Mobile Suit Gundam: Evolution and Integration
by Tsavong-Lah
Summary: [Updated 1.01.06! Episode 3] The day has come for testing of the new Mobile Suits to begin. These trials have an interesting effect on the residents of the far flung and obscure Hermes base. Whose new project could have a large impact on the war effort.
1. Prologue A: Before the Approaching Storm

_Is it fate for war to always ravage the Earth Sphere? Join the story of men and women living in the mist of an ideological and spiritual war being raged against the Federation. Mankind may be on the path to a great Evolution, but will it be able to purge its savage instincts even as it seeks greater Integration with the machines of war... _

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**Mobile Suit Gundam: Evolution and Integration**

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**Foreword and Thanks  
**_First let me say thanks for taking a chance to read this story. Though it is a bit lengthier than I intended I hope that doesn't scare you off. I worked on this for a while and have put honest effort into this story, as I try to do with all my "projects". So with any luck it has some quality at least, and is not a waste of your time. I appreciate any effort to review or remark on my work. _

_This fantasy congealed out of many a night watching Gundam and out of my love for the franchise. There are a lot places from which I drew inspiration and ideas. A lot of themes I hope to cover, and some homage that I would like to pay also. I finally decided to move forward with my first Gundam Fanfiction… well lets hope this works as good as it does in my head () _

_Also thanks to the many Gundam fanfiction writers out there. I have read some great stuff here and there over the years and I would like to thank you guys for lighting that bug in me._

_I hope you enjoy._

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**Disclaimer  
**_I do not own Mobile Suit Gundam or its various spin-offs and sequels, which are property of Bandai and Sunrise. This story and characters within though are fully original and my intellectual property. Of course with the exceptions of material trademarked by their rightful copyright holders. Please, just ask permission if you want to play around with this setting or my characters, if it's not too much to ask. (Like that would ever happen… , it would be good to be aware of it though.) Ok that was fun…_

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**Update December 6, 2005  
**_It's a shame I haven't been ale to work on this anywhere near what I wanted to. But life is quite more dynamic and hectic than I expected. So much has happened to me in the time I posted this. (Like switching to a new, and luckily less stressful job) Finally I am able to work on it again. I am thankful for that. It is fun writing this thing again. I'm shooting for adding three chapters to this fic before the end of the year. Rewriting new stuff ahead, but for now enjoy._

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**Update March 31, 2005  
**_Well I did not get to finish as many chapters I hoped. Things are in flux in Tsavong Lah's life right now. And creating new material is taking long than I thought. But I haven't given up yet just taking a longer view of things. I have a good grasp on Chapters 2 and 3 now. I already have some strong framework ideas for Chapters 4 and 5. Just need the time ();_

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**Update May 22, 2005  
**_Wow months have flown by so fast as to be scary. Ok finally after much rewriting Chapter 2 is ready to see the light of day. Three is still forming up, though nicely. Also I will be reposting all of my previous chapters again. Even though I spent time reviewing my work and rereading multiple times I still find little errors and grammatical mistakes in it. Some are quite embarrassing. So I will be fixing those. _

_Also this story is still morphing a lot so I would like to take the time to rewrite some bits of it as I go along. Nothing major just a little change here and there if I deem necessary. I put a section at the end explaining how I came up with the story as well. Usually it is at the front end of my new stories by tradition, but it was too long so I put it at the end of this prologue instead._

_And as always I can use some helpful feedback too you know (). Anyway enjoy. _

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**_Prologue A: Before the Approaching Storm. _**_

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"…After finishing your primary objectives, yes, you will be free to engage any targets of opportunity." The dark-haired officer said, much to the delight of the soldiers present in the briefing room. He looked over them, just as a proud parent would look at their favored children. The soldiers' resolve and eagerness met him through their eyes and he nodded proudly. "Well then, that is it. Suit up and prepare for engagement. Operation Channelside begins…" He paused looking at his chrono. "Officially…. as of 15 minutes ago."

With the mission briefing adjourned the officers and soldiers present began to disperse from the auditorium styled briefing room. Some breaking into idle chatter others shambling to leave in order to get prepared for the days ahead of them. As they did so, the dark-haired officer's voice greeted them.

"Hunt well my Vassals. My loyal forces of Zexen!" the officer's proud voice boomed, drawing everyone's attention to him. All nodding. "May we all find enlightenment on the field of battle. An awakening to our true potential."

"This, in turn, will lead us to Victory!" a few other soldiers chimed in, responding to the common Zexen creed.

The assembled Mobile Suit pilots let out a roar of approval at their officer's oddly encouraging words. In some militaries such philosophical rhetoric would be seen as corny or foolish, a little odd at best. But this was the Zexen Loyal Militaire, and it was exactly on point. And it was well known that Lord Captain Darius definitely believed in those words.

The Lord Captain was interesting to say the least, thought a young Aden Anon. Aden was the newest Officer assigned to Darius' legendary Mobile Suit force, and rather green at that. Aden, a young man freshly turned nineteen, possessed a face of bright eyed openness. This was enhanced by piercing black eyes and dark black hair. Hair that had been getting longer than federation regulations allowed. Not that it mattered, considering where he was presently.

Aden couldn't help feeling largely inadequate in the presence of men such as Darius. That and a large dose of anxiety. Aden was afraid to think about it sometimes but he had seen much because of the war. Still, even thought that was true, compared to the warriors in his present company he was still an infant. Aden was able to admit to himself that part of his anxiety came from the special circumstances leading up to becoming a Zexen soldier also.

Aden was still getting used to the strange way of life that was the Zexen armed forces. There was so much to learn and such odd etiquette to respond to. This would be his first mission with them, his first engagement with the "enemy". He would soon be fighting against the forces with which he used to owe allegiance. The Earth Federation.

Aden still couldn't fully process how he came to be here, on this ship, with these forces, in barely a month. It was as if a whirlwind dream.

He still thought about the battle versus the Zexen and their powerful Mobile Suits with a quickening of his heart. That was itself his first battle for the Federation. He remembered the panicked frenzied battle, which turned to a rout, which turned to a massacre for Federation forces. He still remembered the strange intense feelings he received during the battle. Then somehow he survived…_one of the few that day._ Aden remembered being approached by the strange man in a Zexen Mobile Suit, remembered feeling no ill will from the pilot. Their conversation was more feeling than words and in the end he decided to follow the man and join the Zexen. He didn't know it at the time but he had just been recruited. It was still very hard to comprehend it all.

And now, after a very short induction into their forces he was here aboard the _Arbelisk_, a Zexen Grand Attack Carrier. Ready to deploy in a Zexen Mobile Suit…against his old allies. That would have been the realm of fantasy only weeks earlier.

Actually, what Aden now realized, was that the Federation was never really his ally either. Despite a mountain of nervousness, he felt more at home here than he ever did in their forces. He had no love for the Federation; they were just a means to an end. An opportunity for a young man with no means like him to get by and possibly exceed in life. It was the same opportunity offered to him by the Zexen. But these Zexen offered much more, and with much more… _respect_. As if emphasizing his thoughts, a few of the pilots saluted him as they passed, smiling, encouraging him; some even bowed! These were all hardened veterans, why to a screaming rookie like him? He shook his head, bewildered by the attention. He was still getting used to it. Still getting used to the Zexen armed forces.

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Aden walked into the restless mass of hyperactivity that was the Arbelisk's Mobile Suit bay. The sounds of approaching battle filled the air. Of mechanics, engineers, and soldiers readying their mobile weapons to make war. There before him among the 32 Mobile Suits crammed into the Arbelisk was his designated Mobile Suit. It hung huddled in-between the battered and battle tested Ramza Mobile Suits of the other pilots. It was a pristine, factory fresh Rahja_. And a command unit at that._ Aden was beginning to wonder if these Zexen really knew what they were doing, what rank he was, and especially that he was not exactly an "experienced" pilot when it came to Mobile Suit engagements.

"Yes, that would be yours Sir Lieutenant." said a wily female mechanic, with a particularly sultry drawl. "Factory fresh and ready to go. Sorry about it being bald though…"

"Pardon ma'am?" Aden said a bit distracted. Still staring up at the awe inspiring instrument of modern war.

"Oh I just received the confirmation that you were going into battle today. So I didn't get a chance to get your color scheme requisition." she looked to Aden and noted his confusion with a nod. "Most pilots of your… status… are afforded special paint jobs on their Suits. We haven't had the time for it, since it was a rush job. Had my hands full just getting the beaut. checked out and prepped." She smiled hesitantly as if waiting for some reaction from Aden. "I hope it isn't too much of a problem for you sir."

"Umm…..oh. No problem miss…ah thank you." Aden said partially puzzled. As he had been for most of his time on the Arbelisk since his arrival three days ago. "Oh and just Aden is ok."

"Ok sir….. uh Aden. Let me know if you come up with anything you might need," she said, nodded, and then moved on to her next duties leaving Aden alone with his Mobile Suit and a stomach full of uncertainty.

In this he actually was not alone. Just from random conversations and whatever else he could pick up it seemed that the whole taskforce was nervous about this operation. It seemed that this Operation Channelside was quite a large risk overall for the Zexen military. The people here seemed ready and able to go into battle but there were doubts that things could go wrong, especially given the size of the operation. This surprised Aden. From the rumors and having witnessed the Zexen's tenacity and stubbornness in battle, he like many, believed the Zexen intensely determined to fight to ruin. They seemed never afraid to die and sometimes suicidal. A lot of fog was cut away upon joining their side, but that didn't mean there weren't any mysteries left, there were many. It was just something else to worry about along with the anxiety of this huge looming battle.

All Aden could do was pace back and forth through the bay. Finally he stood overlooking the activity of the Mobile Suit bay from an upper deck. Watching the mechanics and techs swarming over the Mobile Suits prepping them. He was there for a long while quite lost in thought.

"Lieutenant. …Anon is it?" a strong voice addressed, knocking Aden out of his reverie. Aden turned to answer and fought not to jump. It was the Lord Captain, Darius Alexander himself.

Darius was the epitome of what a noble soldier of Zexen was portrayed to be. He was dashing and handsome yet still bared the hardness of a seasoned soldier. His tanned skin, rich black hair, and Mediterranean features enhanced this impression. And he projected a knight's noble posture and possessed an educated eloquence, which many in the Zexen League Militaire tried to pull of to varying degrees of success. "So you are the newly awakened pilot I was sent are you not?" he asked, smiling lightly. "I've been meaning to have a sit down with you."

Aden jumped to attention saluting him. "Sir?"

"Be calm my young friend," Darius said jokingly, waving Aden's arms down. "I wonder…" he nodded sagely. "How long have you been with us exactly? The Zexen?"

"Uhh…A few weeks Sir? Is something wrong?" Aden managed to get out. Aden felt an odd reaction from Darius Alexander's presence. He ruled it as awe or intimidation but was not exactly sure if that was what he was feeling. _Something about him… _

"I see, so they commissioned you rather quickly did they? I sometimes have reason to wonder… about the sanity of my fellow Templar. They must have high hopes for you." Darius said, seriously considering the matter, his hand supporting his chin. "That means you'll need a lot of work. Things are going to get very complicated very soon as well. And you are probably still unsure about your tenure in the Zexen Loyal Militaire, correct?"

Aden looked down at the floor for a second. "That would be accurate Sir."

"Understandable... I guess it can be a bit confusing at first, especially for one that has not grown up in our… society," Darius said.

"More than a bit sir," Aden added tentatively yet spreading his arms out to take in the suit and the large bay. "I feel undeserving of all this. How can all of you even trust a person like me? I used to be Federation."

Darius nodded putting a reassuring and yet strong grip on the young boy's shoulder. "Don't worry Aden, as you can guess, we Zexen do things a bit differently. Where you come from doesn't matter my friend. For you see Aden…we are special, you and I. As such we are afforded privileges in Zexen society, many responsibilities as well. I know it is hard to understand now but you will see after awhile."

Darius had that right at least, Aden was even more bewildered now than before.

"Look Aden, I can tell you are on the edge here. Though I may seem a bit aloof sometimes, I assure you I do not take your placement here any less seriously. I just have a lot on my mind right now. Things that must be focused on. But trust me, you are a priority of equal import." Darius said, voice filled with concern, almost apologetic.

"I am not sure why you would be worrying about one soldier out of hundred." Aden responded to Darius' odd statements.

Darius sighed, pressing a hand to his face. "I keep forgetting how raw you are. There is much to explain but not really a lot of time to do it." He paused and checked his chrono again. "We have some time. About three hours before we are in position. I want you to go take a break. Re-review the Mission details and your assignments. Then maybe catch some Zs."

"Hope I don't get in trouble for this, but I am not sure if I will be able to follow that order Sir," added Aden, trying to use humor to cover his dread. His small smile looked like it could crumble at any second.

"Well it is good to see you have some ability to laugh yet. I was a wreck my first time as well." Darius smiled back at him. "But I am serious, the ability to steal sleep whenever you can is a critical one in our profession. Look, try to keep busy to take your mind off things; I will meet you back here before launch." Darius threw up a hasty salute then walked not more than a few steps before being hailed by some other subordinate on an issue of importance. Aden found that he agreed with Darius, perhaps he needed to get away from the activity for a moment. Calm his nerves. _Who am I fooling_, he thought.

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The young soldier wandered the ship for a while trying to follow the Lord Captain's advice. He chatted idly with a few soldiers who saluted him when he left. Behavior that still unsettled him. He then ended up in one of the ships observation lounges after a while.

Aden tried to study the mission again using his datapad, a small portable computer, but found himself staring out of the observation window. He sat watching the stars twinkle, Mobile Suits on fly by, and Zexen capital ships form up outside the large window….

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Aden awoke with a start. Worriedly checking his watch, he confirmed that only 90 minutes had passed. He quickly realized that he was ok, and the bile in his stomach dissipated just as quickly. He breathed out a big sigh of relief, but it was at this moment he noticed he was not the only one in the lounge.

"You must have nerves of steel, I can never sleep before a mission," said a woman's strong voice.

Aden looked up, trying to keep embarrassment from his face. He then noticed the trim woman with red orange hair sitting a few seats down from him. Much closer to the viewport. The woman's normal suit helmet hung back behind her, red hair clipped in a twist behind her head. She stared out of the viewport window with a sort of casual pensive expression on her face. He could tell she was very physically fit, even through her blue, black, and white normal suit. She was a Mobile Suit pilot, but also a warrior.

"Not really intentional," Aden blushed. He threw her a salute, "Lt. Aden Anon, Sir."

She looked back from her reverie; an eyebrow arced on her face. She nodded then casually slid an arm off the seat and down Aden's way, nonchalantly shaking his hand. " That should be the other way around Sir Lieutenant." She shrugged. "Master Chief Jean Sanders." She slowly looked him up and down then turned back to her window watching. There was quiet for a while, only an intercom announcement breaking the silence.

"I see you invaded my little paradise." She said finally, still staring out of the viewport. "Usually there's not a soul to be found in here before missions. My own little sanctuary."

"I am sorry I bothered you." Aden apologized.

"You where no bother," she said with a calm yet strong voice. A bit monotone. "You sleep rather peacefully," she told him. "Sort of reminded me of my young son..." At that she turned from the window, finally diverting her full attention to him.

"You're the new one," she said, in a matter of fact manner. "Darius' next young squire."

"How did you know that Master Chief?" Aden mused.

"Just call me Jean." She interrupted Aden. Staring impassively into his eyes. " And I can tell by your eyes... Though don't worry you hide it better than you know."

Aden nodded his thanks to her.

"Besides Darius told me about you," Jean said, with what might be some sort of smile. Aden noticed that she was one of the only people he ever heard call the Lord Captain by his first name. _She must know him well. Or maybe she is just the informal type. Still, pretty bold from what I have seen of the Zexen. _"Yeah this must be quite the load for you," she said rather blandly. As her speech had been during the whole of the conversation. For some reason Aden felt as if she had no emotion to project into her own words.

"I came here trying to sort a lot of it out." He admitted, shrugging, "I guess I worried myself to sleep."

"And you run into me, huh." She shrugged too. "Knowing Darius, he would consider this more than a coincidence," she said shaking her head. "Thrust into the fires of war. A young plebe fresh from brainwashing at Boot." she stated, as if trying to mock Darius sometimes poetic speech, her flat voice didn't help with the impression. She stopped for a minute, reconsidering. "Or in your case that would be Anointment, I guess." She shrugged again.

"Pardon?" Aden asked, catching on to the stressing of anointment.

"You are like Darius. An elite. Or so they like to believe." Jean said. But Aden couldn't detect any vehemence or sarcasm in her emotionless words.

"Who are 'they' exactly?" he pondered.

"The Templars," she answered, eyebrow arched.

"Oh, The Lord Captain mentioned as much, at least I think he did," Aden remarked, his face crumpled in puzzlement for a second. "I am still not that sure what it is all is about. Or what it has to do with me for that matter.. uh… Jean_." Anointment? The Templars?_

"Well don't worry about that stuff for now. I didn't think you were that green or I would not have brought it up."

"Focus on the present, not those worries. The coming battle only." She looked to space again for a moment then back to Aden. "I wouldn't worry about Darius either," she said. "He may be a firebrand, and sometimes too zealous for his own good, but he is one of the best commanders we have. I have "watched" him for a while."

He realized in her odd indifferent way she was trying to ease his fears. She seemed somewhat intriguing. A bit too irregular to be your standard soldier. "And what about you. How long have you been with the Zexen?"

"This girl." She said indicating her self. 'This girl is just an old dog soldier. Nothing to see here young pup." She said with a small almost impossibly slight smile. It didn't seem too usual a thing for her to do.

She motioned to get up but Aden was still interested. "You said you had a son, how old is he."

At the instant she heard Aden's question she perceivably locked up. Jean sat rigidly still for a long moment, almost as if she had frozen solid. Aden feared that he might have overstepped himself.

"He would have been 12 years old." Jean whispered. The impact of that admission opening wide Aden's young eyes. The import of what it meant slamming home.

There was a long awkward pause before she said anything again but Aden gave her his attention and patience. "It was a federation offensive. An attack on the Zexen's home Side. Preemptive…" She answered, though the question had not been asked. Her muscles tensed for a short moment, and then thankfully relaxed again…a little. This provided Aden with some relief. She then motioned to stand up again.

And though outwardly she did not change, Aden could tell something was different in her. He…felt...a change in her presence. Just from what he heard in Jean's words. The first hints of emotion pouring from her. What escaped from that calm and cool exterior though was actually tortured and pained. He realized then that there was a maelstrom hiding behind the quiet front of Jean Sanders.

Aden didn't try to be trite with her. He only asked, "Is that why you fight?" His gaze as supportive and intense as her admission. She only nodded, then looked out of the viewport again for sometime before moving for the exit. As she left she turned once more to face Aden. "That face just then… you really do remind me of my son." Aden saluted her as she left him alone again. Alone to ponder on his own nebulous reasons for fighting.

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All around him the frantic noise of the Mobile Suit bay seemed to have doubled. Increasing again and again as the time got closer to launch. Aden stood there for the longest time staring at his Rahja, deciding whether to go mount up.

"You look how I feel," said a young voice. Aden turned to see a wide smile greet him. A young female soldier also in her combat normalsuit. Her face was all smile, not necessarily beautiful but still attractive with its strong piercing features. Aden couldn't place her ethnicity though, but her tan skin and features seemed to hint at South American origins.

"Yeah. I don't know... For a second I considered running out of here. I am more afraid of letting everyone down though," he blushed when he realized he had spoken that aloud. Shrugged then extended his hand "Lt. Anon."

Now it was her turn to blush a bit. "Ensign Cruz, Chelsea. Sir Lieutenant," she said jumping to attention. "I didn't know who I was talking too. I'm sorry."

Aden sighed heavily and waved her hands down, looking over his shoulders to see if anyone was looking in their direction. "Not you too? And why are your eyes like that," he said noticing her open eyes, full of surprise.

"I just didn't expect one of your kind to say something like that."

Aden sighed again, getting tired of this reaction. Though he did offer a smile lest he sadden her "... What my doubts? Look I'm no officer; I'm just a nervous soldier like you. Heck you probably have more experience than me."

The young ensign was a little shocked to hear such an admission, admittedly that thought had never occurred to her. "This would be my third sortie Sir Lieutenant."

"See there you have it." Aden said cheering her on. "I have only been in one engagement. And this is my first mission for the Zexen too."

"But... I have never been involved in something this big..." she said shrugging nervously. Aden nodded, he didn't envy her. Aden's first mission had been a large battle. He still had the nightmares to keep him up at night; he felt it unwise to tell her that in this situation.

"You survived three, that's an incredible feat in this type of war." Aden said with admiration, and realized that it was a true. "I'd say that is pretty damn impressive," Aden said genuinely. "I could only hope to make it past three without making a fool of myself."

"I doubt you'd make more of a fool of yourself than I could," she said, finally smiling a little bit.

Aden shook his head smiling as well. "Hey lets not try to out do each other in states of nervousness here. You'll do fine."

"That she will," came the familiar voice.

Darius was there suddenly walking past him. Both Aden and Ensign Cruz saluted instantly.

"I have faith in both of you. Lt. Anon. Thank you for encouraging the Ensign." He said, turning and placing a hand on the Lieutenant's shoulder. "I have seen her in battle myself." the Lord Captain said turning to Ensign Cruz. "I am also sure she will do well. Ensign it is time to suit up so you'd best hurry. I need a moment to speak to the young Lieutenant here."

She saluted him and quickly headed off to her dark blue Ramza that stood by Aden's Mobile Suit.

"Hey Ensign! I bet you will be great out there! Good Luck!" Aden thought to yell after her. She stopped mid stride and nodded though she did not turn around. She jumped off the deck to board her suit.

"Good job Anon. Already you take to the role of Officer." Darius praised him.

"Well it is easier to help with another's problems than deal with your own. I guess. I've been that way before."

"Are you ready?" Darius asked him.

"Not going to get any more than I am now sir. In fact I was going to mount up on my suit ... I guess I forgot you wanted to meet me again. I figured you may be too busy anyway."

"I try to keep my word my young charge." The man looked up at the new Rahja and smiled. "A fine Mobile Suit. Good."

Aden payed full attention to Darius then. This time the Lord Captain was dressed in his normal suit, of dark blue, black, and white trim. To Aden he looked ready to ride into battle like some old historical warrior. But instead of the ornate command swords carried by the other commanders Aden saw, Darius Alexander sported an ancient Japanese styled sword. Sheathed at his hip.

"This old model Rahja should serve you well…"

"Old sir?" Aden was definitely a little shocked; Darius Alexander must be more connected than he knew if the man considered the Rahja an "old" model. They had just been phased into service several months earlier and were still relatively rare. Federation pilots had learned to fear them rather quickly. Aden definitely had.

" I remember my first Rahja, well… It was the first time I received… " Darius paused looking at Aden's neck for a long few seconds before nodding. " I see, you have not even undergone the integration process yet, I feared as much" he said rubbing absently behind his own, neck smiling. "You won't be able to fully utilize our MS until you do. I hoped that they would at least have done that before shipping you to me." He sighed. "Can't be helped now though," he said, holding his chin in thought.

"Truthfully Sir, I am a bit wary of the process." Aden answered the man honestly.

"Once you see what we can do, you'll change your outlook. Besides its rather…mandatory." Darius said firmly, though not in a threatening manner. "Sooner or latter you will have to get one if you want to excel here."

Aden remained quiet, taking that under consideration, nodding. "I understand…"

"Don't worry it isn't as invasive as you would think, much better than earlier processes. It will effect your life greatly though." Darius said rubbing the back of his neck again. "You will be fine for now though. Our engineers were very wise in keeping an old style control system installed in case the hot interface equipment was damaged in battle. You will still be able to pilot it the old way no problem," he mused. "This Rahja will serve you well."

Aden nodded nervously. The "integration" process was big on the rumor mill when he was with the Federation. It was the so-called "hot interface" that gave the Zexen Mobile Suits and their pilots their strange capabilities. It was very hard to explain how they did what they did. Part of Aden was actually curious to find out, which warred with his fear of the unknown procedure.

"I will do my best sir. I don't understand all of this yet but I hope to do my best." Aden said, hoping he sounded surer of himself than actually was. He was just too distracted, everything was moving ahead too fast…and he felt…he didn't know what he felt. Something in the background on the tip of his brain.

"Sir everything is ready, we await your orders," said a familiar and emotionless voice. Aden turned to see Master Chief Jean saluting them. Aden hoped he kept the surprise from his face.

"Aden this is my right-hand woman, and most ferocious soldier Master Chief Jean Sanders." Darius introduced with a proud smile. Knowing what he did just from his short conversation with her Aden didn't doubt that statement.

"We've meet sir." Aden said, eliciting a nod from Jean. He looked down a bit, fearing the color rising in his cheeks.

The Lord Captain only smiled broadly, like he already knew, or even expected it to happen. He then accepted a small datapad from the Master Chief. Studying it intently and whispering a few words to Jean. "Tell the Captain, we are ready. I'll be suiting up shortly," the Lord Captain said. Jean nodded, saluted sharply, saluted Aden as well, and then moved off to her duties.

"Don't worry young Aden, you will fare well." Darius said as if sensing his mood. Alarms flashed in the Mobile Suit bay and alerts sounded over the intercom almost drowning out Darius' words. The last of the Mobile Suit pilots were running to get in their Mobile Suits. The Ship was ready for battle.

Aden's heart pounded louder in his chest. "Trust in me, I will show you the way," Darius asked of him suddenly. His tone solemn, reassuring. This sent a strange shock through Aden, and that odd sensation he got from Darius seemed to increase again, an electric buzz… "I'll show you of our ways Aden, of your potential, of the Templar, of enlightenment."

They both stood their staring at each other, for a short time that seemed to stretch out to infinite. A moment between them. A Knight and his new Squire.

"Better suit up, I would hate to leave you behind." Darius finally said, giving the younger man a little bow. He then started to make his way towards his own Mobile Suit but he stopped and looked at Aden strangely, as if looking far away and at him simultaneously. "You can feel it already can you not? You can feel many things…" he asked. "Though you don't understand it yet."

"The gathering of focus, of wills... congealing together…" Darius said, his voice almost a whisper.

Oddly, and though Darius' words made no logical sense, Aden understood him…felt it really. " I can…." he spoke aloud mostly to himself.

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The dark-blue and red Rahja rose up from the elevator and Aden was blessed with the gorgeous view of deep space. The Arbelisk taskforce's ships floated nearby. A ship of the Ahm class, a Miranda class, and a Berdan class Mobile Suit Carrier, little brother to the Arbelisk. Aden could see other mobile suits ready to launch on the decks of the other ships. Off further in the distance were other taskforce fleets. Aden was amazed. He had read the reports and realized it was a big operation. But until now, when he finally saw the reality of the forces assembled he realized he hadn't truly grasped it.

He looked over and spotted Lord Captain Darius's Mobile Suit, the Arjun. It was magnificent Aden thought as he admired the lines of the Mobile Suit. It sported a larger frame than Zexen norm. But bristled with weaponry, vernier, and pylon. It looked fairly totemic, an ancient war god. _So that is Lord Captain Darius' Mobile Suit_, he whistled. _A custom command version for Templar. A newtype-use Mobile Suit_. It was utterly ferocious to Aden's eye. Darius's Mobile Suit turned and nodded at him, a distinctly human expression, then Aden's comm. unit crackled to life.

"Remember Aden, in battle do not worry, just trust in me." Lord Captain Darius' voice greeted him, slightly distorted, more mechanical than he expected. Though no less full of import. He noticed the Lord Captain's presence again for a moment. "I will show you the way." Then silence, as a bright light drew his attention to the starscape as if punctuating the Lord Captain's words.

The light reflected brilliantly off of a nearby colony, already enlarging in Aden's field of view. A few other colonies could be seen nearby. And little sparks of light reflected the location of…..enemies. Even the Earth was somewhat visible, a bright sun in the sky. If not for the approaching battle it would be a truly breathtaking sight.

This moment elicited memories that Aden hadn't thought of for some time. Namely his fond his times with his old love. She was always talking of such things, of exploring the solar system. She would have loved it had she been here. _Under different circumstances of course... _It made his heart flutter to remember her. He prayed she was well. He hoped that she did not despise him for what he did to her back then. Aden also hoped she wouldn't hate him because of what he had decided to do with the Zexen. Perhaps even…he could return and sweep her off her feet once he made something of himself. _Perhaps…._

"Sir Lieutenant Anon," his comm. spoke again thought he hadn't heard it the first time. "Status sir? Are you ready?"

"Oh right sorry," he said aloud, ending his reverie. "This is Lieutenant Anon, I am ready for launch," Aden said embarrassed.

"No problem sir!" said the melodic voice of the comm. officer.

Lord Captain Darius's voice then boomed over the operation channel seconds later. "All Mobile Suits deploy! Form on me!"

The four MS on the deck of the massive ship launched. Two from the port launch catapults and two from the starboard side catapults.

Aden smiled as the Rahja obeyed his commands; he directed it and it smoothly moved to followed behind the Lord Captain's Arjun. His Mobile Suit's movements were a bit more "stiff" than the others though. Space around him was illuminated in a brilliant display as all the Mobile Suits from the Arbelisk taskforce, and the other fleet groups, began to enter into space and form battle squadrons. Aden saw Ramzas, Masads, and a few more Rahjas gather around him. The 60 or so suits making up this taskforce. He noted Master Chief Sander's black and blood-red trim Masad form up beside him.

The Arjun moved ahead of the group. It turned fluidly to gaze at the assembled Mobile Suits floating in formation before it.

Lord Captain Darius' voice greeted his forces. "I do not need to remind you my soldiers, but follow the battle plan and do not get too…overanxious. It is as simple as that."

"Though the fleets of the Federation are no match for our valiant forces, they are wounded. And we all know that a wounded animal is a dangerous one." Darius's voice warned. "Especially one backed into a corner."

"They are now where we once were.…" His voice trailed, as the Arjun boosted a bit to correct its drift. The light it cast on the Suit and the colony that silhouetted it added somewhat to Darius's warning. It gave the Mobile Suit an eerie glow for a second.

"Also I would add, please try your best to supplant damage to civilian targets and the Colonies themselves. Especially you Hershal."

Laughter filled the comm. drowning out Lt. Hershal's rebuttal. "But seriously men, it is only the Federation that is our enemy," Darius continued, " The colonies must be left to see that our way is right and that we are here to help them ascend with us."

That said his Mobile Suit held its beamrifle up high in a salute, igniting its "beam lance." The gorgeous beam energy jetted out from his rifle in the shape of a long lance like blade. The other Zexen suits mirrored his Mobile Suit igniting their lances as well.

"My honored soldiers and vassals let us find enlightenment in battle always! Victory is ours if this is true!" He bellowed, and Aden felt the thunder in his emotion.

"Prepare Federation!" He said, almost raving it seemed. " For we shall bring forth the very Fury of our souls upon you!"

"Hai!" his soldiers responded. Aden was taken aback at the display. It was as if the energy of these soldiers was a tangible thing. It revitalized him and alleviated some of his fears. Though it worried him as well. The Lord Captain's ability to go from joking reassurance to zealous fire, what did that say about the man? Aden couldn't doubt the man's sincerity, not by what he felt of the man and his words. And the Zexen in general…

At that moment a brilliant flare shot into the sky somewhere from the main fleet. The High-Admiral had signaled the beginning of active operation. At that a large "beam flag" sprouted from the back of Lord Captain Darius' Mobile Suit, displaying the Zexen standard. Aden remembered reading that years back Cosmo Babylonia pilots followed a similar practice. And though it made the command personnel prime targets, such was the pageantry of the Zexen Loyal Militaire.

The Arjun's spectacular boosters flared brightly as it accelerated to attack speed. Darius led the charge to battle and his soldiers followed him, happily. With young Aden along for the ride. Beautiful strings of light spreading outwards, as if a flower in bloom. A thunderous storm of determination and desperation, of Man and Machine being loosed upon an enemy.

Operation Channelside had begun in earnest.

**So how did I come up with this?**_  
It is tradition for me to start off with an introductory ramble on my stories but I decided to put it at the end instead. I just like to discuss a few things. What the story is about, my goals, hopes, dreams, influences, and motivations for this story. Just to give you a feel of what I am trying to accomplish._

_Well I am Tsavong Lah, long time Gundam Fan. I have been one since I first saw 0083 Stardust Memory so long ago. So far I have watched a lot of Gundam including Victory, some Turn-A, even the new stuff SEED, and Destiny. I thoroughly love it! I have not had a chance to watch Zeta yet though (Accursed $200 box sets!). I enjoy UC Gundam a lot, and it is my favorite era, but I don't discriminate. Gundam as a whole is too good for that. In fact G-Gundam is one of my favorite animes._

_I have wanted to do some Gundam fanfiction for quite sometime. Some form of Gundam. I think what really turned me onto fanfiction can be attributed to the fictions posted back on Gundamwatch way back when I was first getting into the fan community. I have a few fics and shorts I have worked on, and one other fiction posted here. I believe the first stirring of this story came about when I saw Char's Counterattack for the first time. What an experience that was! It was a beautiful movie. First and foremost I am a Space Opera fan, and that movie definitely catered to my sensibilities. Large fleet versus fleet battles, heroic actions, strategic operations, political intrigue, machinations of superpowers. I have found only a few shows in anime that can please me on that level. Shows like Legend of Galactic Heroes, Gundam, and Crest/Banner of the Stars, the Honor Harrington books. I knew I had to dabble a in this. It took me longer than a year to finally get started on this idea and I have been working on it off and on for a while now. I sometimes wondered if my crazy ideas would even make it to the page, but then the pieces fell into place, and I realized I might have a shot at it. What did I have to loose?_

_First and foremost I knew I had to do a UC story. Because of the themes involved and the setting that I love. But with what I wanted to do, I knew that I would not be able to do a side story from established shows. Another thing I would have to do is find a time period to put this story in, thus relegating it to the more "future" UC eras. There are many reasons for this._

_One of my main reasons is that in fanfiction I never liked using characters from the actual animes. I feel I could never do them credit. Thus if I do fiction set in a particular anime it is always with my own characters and events in the background or away from animated events. This also gives me creative freedom in a lot of ways. I knew I wanted to do something on a large scale, much like a true Gundam series, with all the fixings. That is what MSG:E&I is basically, a totally new Gundam "series." I wanted to try some new things for Gundam, while keeping true to the source material. I definitely wanted to try and explore the more "mystical" aspects of Gundam as well. Also as an added benefit I wouldn't be stepping on the toes of the other series. I am a strong fan but not too knowledgeable about all the little details in Gundam that can trip a writer up. I'm not a UC scholar, but I will at least do research as to not come off as a total fool…I hope. The military aspects were a bit daunting to me as well, since I am not too familiar with things like fleet divisions, mobile suit battalion compliments, military etiquette. Liking that type of stuff and actually knowing how to implement it is tough! I had to work on that. Hopefully it won't hinder me too much._

_This story is really a homage to Mobile Suit Gundam. A tribute to MSG and its predecessors. So expect to see many themes from those shows. Ones we always know and expect from Gundam. I drew inspiration for ideas from everywhere. My biggest inspiration was, of course, Char's Counterattack (in fact I watched it frequently during my brainstorming and writing of this story). Another big influence is F91 Gundam (The great series that never was to be. This was watched constantly as well). Cosmo Babylonia really influenced the shape of my main oppositional forces. Victory Gundam did as well. I definitely drew ideas from Gundam SEED. (Hey, I found that many of the themes in the show were pretty good, such as the Athrun /Kira rivalry and friendship). Inspiration was also taken from World War II, The Crusades, and Jovian Chronicles. _

_This is definitely not a black and white, good versus evil story. I do want to explore the gray areas of a war in due time. The politics of the nations in the Solar System. From the perspectives of the people fighting at the front and far from it. From multiple sides. All while focusing on a destination for the plot. This is all big talk, I know. I just hope I can pull off some of these ideas. I don't consider myself anywhere near a big time writer, sheesh I can't say I am a skilled fanfic vet yet. I just have big ideas. It should be fun, at the least, to see if I could get them to work._

_These first prologues, I wrote a while back. I think my skills have improved a bit after all this time. I have rewritten these multiple times to get them where they are now. I think I am satisfied. Took me a while just figuring out how to intro into the story, whew. (Always the hardest part of starting new fiction for me). Now I will be rewriting the first 3 chapters and then onto the new stuff I have plotted. I work a lot, but I am dedicated to working on this. Though updates might be a little far in coming (I find the construction industry is rather volatile and sapping at times). But here you go.. _

_OK? Decent? Over the top? Let me know what you think..  
_


	2. Prologue B: Loss of Innocence

_**

* * *

Prologue B: The Loss of Innocence

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**_

The Colony of Eurios would soon be screaming. An exotic mixture of the sounds of war. ..

Tensions had been high ever since the shattered fleets of the Federation retreated here and "commandeered" the colonies. Effectively taking over the area and turning it into a reforming and staging area after their rout at the Lunar defense line. It was a desperate attempt to hold onto power in the area, one that was already in a state of unrest with the Federation. The citizens of Eurios though, already near the breaking point like the rest of the colonies of Side 4 would soon have more dire things to lament.

It began with the buzzing of alarms and the shudder of battle, this was the colonies primal screech. When realization of what this meant hit the denizens of the colony all restraint was lost. The citizens of the colony added their primal screams of fear and anger to that of the colony. Gunfire soon joined fury as well, as the Federation sought to protect itself from rampaging spacenoids. Then it began. Incredibly brilliant displays of light flashed outside of the colony. Small novas lighting up the cool dark of space, signaling the beginning of conflict. It would only get worse.

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Lieutenant Commander Irene Hamlin awoke to chaos, the jumbled bellow of alarms and panicked announcements. She was dazed and yet not befuddled, she knew this day might come, and had been preparing for it. Never the less the day had come, and it was a hard dread that settled into her stomach.

Perhaps it was just some emergency, she wanted to believe despite her usually realist beliefs. But no such luck, her pager was going mad. It was an early warning, (Acknowledge Code DC-1, Enemy attack.)

She had only been asleep for a few minutes or so she thought. She hadn't sleep much over the past week, _past month really_...

The Federation kept running, and the soldiers kept fighting with a dark desperation to keep the Zexen at bay. At least until they could recover or receive reinforcements. Until then there was no rest for Federations soldiers stationed at Side 4. The brass figured, hoped more likely, that the Zexen would not follow the retreating fleets to Side 4. _At least not so quickly, _Hamlin thought The horrid engagements around the moon battered the Federation terribly. The toll should have been far worst on the Zexen, whose forces were actually outnumbered initially. This coupled with their sustained and almost suicidal ferocity; it didn't seem real that they could keep going strong this long. Where the Zexen found the resources for such upkeep of their spirit, manpower, and equipment Lieutenant Commander Hamlin could not begin to guess. The attrition on the Zexen should have slowed them, but Zexen diligence and devotion to cause was notorious.

"Hey Villers time to get a move on soldier," she said softly, shoving the young man in the billet beside her seat. She received no response.

"Feth... You are killing me Villers," she sighed, wiping her short, sweat soaked hair out of her face and moving to get the other pilot awake.

2nd Lieutenant Teska Villers, her fellow mobile pilot was in dead sleep, almost falling off of the billet he slept on. The poor man had been awake for more than 50 hrs straight, helping to repair base 4/a's Mobile Suits, in addition to keeping on combat alert and going on combat patrol. Even the ruckus outside was not enough to wake the dark-skinned young pilot. Hamlin hauled the exhausted man up on his legs and the young Lieutenant finally awoke. "The hell is going..." said Teska trying to orient himself. "How long was I out…" he spoke, with the slurred speech of a man that was dead tired. Rubbing his face he seemed to be coming alert, the alarms seemed to sober him…somewhat.

He still looked like he wanted to lie down and die.

"We're under attack? How…" he said still trying to grasp the world in which he awoke.

"You fell out about 10 hours ago Teska," Hamlin admitted, surprising the Lieutenant. "I had to let you sleep, you needed it. And don't worry I took your patrol as well."

Teska's eyes grew large and his cheeks burned with shame. He knew he was exhausted _but 10 hours!_ And on top of that he still felt tired. "Sir I…. apologize, I am…

"... very tired from trying to do the work of multiple people Teska." Hamlin said punching him on the shoulder lightly. "Don't worry. We need to get to ops and get to our suits. A storm is coming. Looks like a bad one..."

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Hamlin and Villers hurried to get to the Mobile Suit bay that was responsible for finishing repairs on the various Mobile Suits from their particular squad, in the 2nd fleet. Commandeering a jeep they raced of into the surrounding streets of the Colony. A furious assault was brewing in space up above. The first engagement with the patrol forces and the enemy vanguard.

Try as they might, navigating the roads of the Colony was proving quite difficult. As Hamlin and Villers drove through the panic filled streets they saw the handiwork of mob mentality. A multitude of people had raided many of the Military controlled areas of the Colony. Hamlin and Teska couldn't make sense of the chaos; it was as if the crowd was fallen to a deep hysteria. Molotov fires raged out of control in some places, vehicles and debris cluttered the streets. While Hamlin crazily maneuvered the city streets Teska shivered in shock as he eyed harried military guards firing into a crowd of attackers.

"What are they doing dammit," Hamlin said swerving the Jeep as she drove over to stop the guards. By then the horde had diverted to other areas and the guards were seemingly dead.

"I knew it was a mistake sheltering ourselves here. Fed. High Command should never have brought a neutral population like Side 4 into the war," A disgusted Hamlin vented, even as she began driving even more aggressively.

"Especially considering the long standing secessionist sentiment of these colonies." Teska told her. "Heck Crossbone based their takeover attempts from the colonies in this Side."

Hamlin just shook her head in disgust at their predicament. "Now the Zexen are here and we brought this down upon them..."

Even running the jeep at full speed it still took them long minutes to navigate through infected city streets. The initial firestorm in space had died down some, which was another bad omen... It meant the Zexen had dealt with the patrol groups and outer fringes of the Federation forces. There was no doubt that next they would take the battle to the Colony garrisons themselves. From the looks of things, even at this early stage of the battle, Hamlin felt it would be unimaginably messy.

Finally they reached MS Bay 4/a. An element of panic was in the air there as well. A nervous group of guards let them in past the Base's main gates. "What the heck is going on Sir?" asked one young man, that was really more a boy. He and his companion had a large machine gun trained on the entranceway to the base. And they both looked quite nervous at having to stay on their assigned post.

"The Zexen are here," Teska said in passing, as they rode by.

"And the people are panicked now that the Zexs are attacking so close to the Colony." Hamlin yelled back at them, shaking her head in anger.

They raced past and the guard gate and made quick time to the bays only stopping at a pilot lounge to get two normal suits. Hamlin suited up and Teska was soon ready as well, though he looked a little gaunt and hazard to her eyes. _But what could I do for him now..., _she thought sympathetically. She and Teska got into the jeep again and drove to their designated hangar.

"Where are Masla and Poe? Chen? I hadn't even realized to ask what happened to them. " Teska asked zipping up his suit, Hamlin's crazy driving making it rather difficult.

"Already on Standby. I left them here when I went to check on you and take care of a few things. They should already be out there or at least in the general area." she said more than a bit distracted.

"If they were smart maybe they are on board the _Lese_ now." She said uncharacteristically optimistic. "Hope my team can handle without me."

"We'll be pulling out of here quickly I assume Teska. No way can the Federation hope to hold Side 4 against a determined force." Hamlin paused when she heard an outraged yell and looked over to see that it came from Teska. He was looking skywards to a scene just outside the colony's glass pane. She looked as well, and that sight filled her with the same horror that must have racked Teska.

"What the Feth are they doing?" Teska yelled to no one. Hamlin felt his raw anger while she felt simply nauseated. She could see the streams of beam weapons crossing back and forth around a Federation ship.

An old Alexandria class was using the Colony as a shield!

Its burning hull was gliding right over the glass part of the cylinder, barely a few hundred meters above it. "Those cowardly bastards. What are they..."

The old ship exploded suddenly, a huge green beam tearing through the vessel's hull. The spectacular explosion of the ship ripped into the Colony hull hungrily. A large breach in the cylinder and a rain of debris was all that marked the ships passing. "My god it's over for them, all of them" Teska whispered in horror.

Huge gales of air picked up as the pressure vacuum of space took effect near the hole. Thought it would be some time yet before the colony lost all air, their shear size helping them in that regard. But the situation worsened as randomly fired shots missed other targets and struck the cylinder as well.

Then it got worse yet again as the splash damage of the explosion dissipated. Zexen Mobile Suits quickly entered the gaping fissure. They did so hungrily as if they couldn't wait to enter and feast on entrails of a gutted colony.

Immediately the Zexen began engaging targets, firing insanely. Some Zexen Mobile Suits didn't even have targets, they just fired wantonly into buildings, streets, and vehicles. Seemingly intent, and content, just with causing mass destruction.

"My God, Have they gone mad, there are civilians here…."

This colony would be in extreme peril unless repairs could be made to the multiple breaches in its hull. But now Hamlin felt dark fury inside as she realized they wouldn't be able to save this colony. Not with the amount of Zexen forces swarming into it and the battle raging outside of it. Looking at the people running around in panic, debris raining down upon them, She felt sick then she realized it…that the colony was dead. The close combat taking place now was only hastening its demise. She'd like to think that maybe they could evacuate the refugees, could some how save all these people…but it wasn't true.

The Federation military had barely protected itself in the last months of the war.

Shaking her head sadly Hamlin gunned the small jeeps engine feeling a deep rage kindle in her. "We don't have much time. They'll probably be on us in a matter of minutes." She gritted out. "We may be defeated here Villers but I am damn determined to at least make a good account of myself!" she said defiantly. Teska knew that tone and it made him a bit more worried about his Lieutenant Commander than before.

Unopposed because of their devious entry the Zexen Mobile Suits raged out of control in all directions. Teska and Hamlin both realized that the majority of any active Mobile Suits in this colony would be protecting the capital ships at the dock. Sooner than they thought, a hectic battle began to form in the air above their heads. Federation Mobile Suits were rising to engage the enemy now, though they seemed far too few for Hamlin's taste.

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The MS Bay's Hangar field already sported some damage. The MS Bay was actually nothing more than a large concrete pad stretching out for quite a distance, populated with different Hangers spread about it. The Hangars were nothing fancy, just huge aluminum covered buildings with multiple tiers like the kind used to house planes at airports.

Hamlin and Viller's particular Hanger was seconds away when they heard the buzzing approach of airborne Mobile Suits. They dove out of the jeep having reached their destination finally. Hamlin and Villers desperately tried to jump into cover as a Ramza Mobile Suit appeared from behind a nearby cloud speeding towards their location. Its dark ''goggled mask'' and shock trooper-esc design accentuating its intent. It opened fire on Hanger 3b, and the pilots desperately trying to get airborne. The beam set something off and the explosion blew hot air and waste over Hamlin and Villers. Teska Villers could barely open his eyes afterwards.

The Ramza stood there only about 30 meters from Teska and Hamlin, almost as if gloating at the destruction it caused. It turned in their direction but beam fire shot pass the enemy Mobile Suit, distracting it. To Hamlin's shock it waved a dismissive finger in the air, mocking the Federation attackers, and its beamrifle began to spit out return fire. Fiercer beam assaults did eventually drive it off though. "We have to get airborne," she growled grimly as she stood up entering the Hanger. "I have to get a piece of them."

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"Good they look alright, despite the damage." Teska related upon entering the Hangar. Though the Hanger looked damaged from the outside, once they made it inside, Hanger 2a's damage was not what they feared. _We can finally fight back at least..._

Miraculously three suits were still located in the bay. _With the carnage going on outside I figured our personal Mobile Suits would have been conscripted by the most readily available pilots,_ Teska Villers thought as he surveyed the Suits for damage. _The Zexen mus have caught us more flat footed than we could fathom._

The Mobile Suits were amazingly intact despite the carnage caused by the Zexen Ramza Suit. Teska smiled, his old Jamesgun E type appeared to be ok, and so was Hamlin's newer model Mobile Suit, affectionately referred to as the J-Rock.

Teska quickly ran to his Mobile Suit and began to load up. He had just reached into the cockpit when the roof of the Hanger collapsed in and he heard a scream of desperation. A Zexen Mobile Suit had just crashed into the hanger virtually on top of the Lt. Commander!

"LC! Lt. Commander. Hamlin!" Villers screamed doubling his efforts to bring his Mobile Suit online. The Ramza Mobile Suit stood up with some difficulty. It was missing an arm and thankfully the weapon in that arm. Though it quickly ignited its beam saber.

The Ramza stumbled towards Teska's Mobile Suit and Teska sighed in semi-relief as the suit's painfully slow start-up sequence finally finished. The Ramza lunged towards him, blade held back for a chest bisecting blow. Teska roared defiance and raised the Jamesgun's arm up, sacrificing it to the blade. The blade tore off the arm, bit deep into the shoulder and stuck there. Smiling grimly Teska readied his beamrifle and fired pointblank into the Ramza cockpit.

_Damn Teska, that was so foolish! _he yelled to himself upon realizing his potential blunder. The speed and desperation of the events almost throwing him into anxious confusion. But no explosion came though, and the Ramza slunk back off of his Jamesgun lifeless. After the adrenaline of the situation ended he remembered with a jolt about Lieutenant Commander Hamlin.

Rubble had collapsed around the Lieutenant Commander, and partially around the J-Rock. Teska couldn't see her and feared she was dead…but then he heard a faint voice over his Suit's amplifiers. Hamlin was yelling under the rumble. He scrambled and used the Jamesgun to excavate the debris, very carefully. He finally uncovered her after a tense 10 minutes.

"I'm ok Villers. I didn't get hit too hard I just need to… " Hamlin said but then she stumbled for a second, straining heavily, using her hands to keep from laying face first in the rumble. She looked quite pained. "Sir!" Teska voiced, terribly concerned. But she waved him away angrily.

"I'm fine, it's….it's just nausea." Hamlin said dismissively, and she didn't give Teska anytime to protest. "Cover me while I suit up. We may not last this day but I intend to take these bastards with me. As many as possible."

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The J-rock and the Jamesgun raced into the battle which was horribly underway before them. The majority of the fighting was drifting over the city center of the colony. Smoke rose everywhere darkening the sky. The fire and explosions painted it and the cityscape with evil colors, as if it was a part of hell.

Hamlin headed right into maelstrom, the downtown section of the city. The thickest part of the fighting.

Zexen and Federation Mobile Suits swarmed overhead engaging frantically. It was like bees swarming a hive. Their explosive deaths echoing every few moments. Lieutenant Commander Hamlin and Lt. Teska Villers sped along right into it. Now the city seemed more aflame than when they were viewing it on approach. Because of all the carnage the colony looked as if it was shuddering in pain. Though Teska realized that perhaps it was his fatigue taking hold. He couldn't tell… he admitted to himself.

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Hamlin dove her J-rock towards street level, savagely kicking the head off of a Zexen Ramza; driving it down into a dead building-side restaurant.

Teska struggled to keep up with her. His Jamesgun had suffered greater damage than he realized from the beamsaber hit. So he adjusted to covering Hamlin from the rear where maneuverability didn't hurt him too much. Light flashed as beams reflected off of Hamlin's beam shield, then she plowed another Ramza first with her shield then with her saber.

She had a serious mad on Teska knew. W_hich could be dangerous here.._. Teska figured that he couldn't stop her but he could curtail a bit of her recklessness and of course watch her back. Hamlin knew this too, she always trusted Teska to be there to watch her.

"Bastards, there aren't enough of you!" she yelled defiantly as a Ramza exploded. "Teska you keeping up?" she blurted then blasted ahead of him again. Quickly dodging a beam, her return fire carved up the upper stories of a building as she tracked her fire after another Mobile Suit. This one a Rahja. They weren't holding back now, Teska realized. Most of the people in this place had fled, and if they were still here then the loss of colony integrity would take them. _God help them either way._

Hamlin's J-Rock flew down another street corner, beams criss-crossing all along and around her path. Teska's Jamesgun E was right behind her, only a bit more slowly around the turn. But then blinding light and thunderous sound disoriented Teska. A humongous green beam ripped large holes through two buildings and cut into the building over his head, rattling his Jamesgun badly. Teska barely cleared the debris field, but dust and smoke billowed every where destroying visibility.

"zzzz Teska zzzzell happzzz you zzzzght!……… I'll zzt tze zzztard." He herd Hamlin say over her comm. system.

Teska didn't respond. He sat in his seat trembling. The high levels of adrenaline and his fatigue were killing his body. He just wanted to lay down and die, but then another beam flashed before him. A mere meter from his Suit's torso. A near miss!

It shocked Teska into reacting, he sent his Suit backtracking into the expanding smoke cloud.

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_It seemed I picked up a lot of admirers_, Hamlin though as she blasted the cockpit out of another Ramza. A Samurai-like Rahja and Stormtrooper-esc Ramza rose into the sky to meet her. "Good!" she said angrily. But then the dark, heavily armored form of a Masad rose up as well and she bit back a curse. Hamlin launched the Mobile Suit into the nearest city streets hoping to lose them. She knew she wasn't that good!

A huge explosion went up by her as the Masad opened fire with its large caliber Bazooka weapon. It took the life of a Federation pilot that was trying to give her cover fire. She back tracked, rushing through the blaze. Hoping to loose the tail. Warning alarms sounded off around her. The J-rock didn't like the heat it seemed. She initiated a full burn forcing the Mobile Suit out of the flaring crater. Lucky for her that she did so, for a moment later a huge thick beam impacted her fiery hiding spot, mere seconds later. A small mushroom cloud covered the blast area that almost took her down.

"He spotted me?" she said out loud. She was starting to sweat despite her normalsuit for some reason. _Malfunction? _The J-rock boosted again and was flying up above the cityscape when she saw him.

There it was... a strangely insectoid Mobile Armor floating in the sky above her. It fired off another thick green beam as her Suit turned towards it. A Federation Mobile Suit tried to rise to her aid but the Armor shot it out of the sky matter of factly.

It turned to face the J-rock.

"Hello my little slitch! Seems you want to tango…. Well fine by me." A hard voice cracked over her comm.. system, transmitted by optical means. "Boys back off, I want her! Tell Camion that our mission here is almost complete. Prepare to disengage from this CZ."

"And I though I was cocky, " Hamlin said checking her scopes. She was happy with herself that she didn't jump when she saw that the three suits she thought she lost were almost upon her. They broke of to comply with their orders. The Masad firing a blast from its Bazooka, it seemed, just for the hell of it. She stood facing the Armor for what seemed like a long time but was only a minute or so. " Well lets dance." Hamlin said blasting towards him. So these were Lord Captain Camion's men. The savagery, and slaughter made sense now.

The big armor ignited propellant, dashing of at ridiculous maneuvering angles. "Fething fast!" was all she could say. Four beams lanced toward her, fired from the armors four side nodules. It was almost like a ridiculous and crazy lightshow…one that was trying to kill her.

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A Masad fired its high powered beam into the clearing smoke cloud. Another building crumbled under the assault.

The heavily armored beast of a Mobile Suit waded forward through the rubble of its handy work, "hunting". The tall buildings were like a concrete forest to move through, the Masad pilot thought with amusement.

"Where are you feddie? I can smell your devolved funk even through my normalsuit, " the Zexen said to himself. He had been hunting the damaged Jamesgun for a good bit. He was surprised the gakking thing could even move so well in its condition. Still…."Its just a fething Jamesgun... How in the hell…" he stopped. He caught the shadow of the Mobile Suit as it moved through the smoke cloud. He fired, tracking his aim to head it off. The thick beam struck something up ahead, heaving up more rubble. He knew he didn't kill the thing. _Where is this pest?_

The Masad pilot boosted through the area, angry about this hunt . He fired his rifle again and again at the concealed area for the mere fact that he was frustrated. Camion and Diesel would have his tail if they saw a lowly Fed leading him on like dog. "Where are you, you bas…bingo."

His Suit detected the ambient traces of the Jamesgun's profile up ahead. He brought the Masad up to a small intersection marked by four big buildings, one was burning intensely from internal fires. He started to move the Masad through the intersection, but he checked his scanners and smiled. And then doubled back and came around the other end. He wouldn't be caught in a poor attempt at an ambush. The Masad pilot traveled down a tighter street to get behind the Jamesgun. As he snuck up to his "prey's" position the smoke cleared a little and he saw the nozzle of a beamrifle just a few meters down the street from him. It was barely poking around the corner of the building he now leaned his Masad against.

His self congratulating sneer would have made even the most peaceful man enraged. He lined up his shot. The Heavy Beam Rifle fired and struck a few meters to the right of the gun. Hopefully a dead on shot to the Jamesgun's torso.

Nothing happened.

There was only the clump of superheated metal that used to be a beam rifle. That and a large see-through hole from where the beam punched through. "Feth he duped me..." It was too late to react. Light caught his eye from the steel and glass lobby to his right. The light from an ignited beamsaber. Teska's Jamesgun burst forth coming through the building to the Masad's right. The Jamesgun closed far too quickly, its beamsaber ignited. It flared in a mid-height slash that bisected the Masad straight through the cockpit. Teska quickly departed the area, his opponents explosion flashing behind him.

Teska relaxed a little letting out a long sign and breathing deeply. "Where is she?"

---------------------------------------

Teska found his Lieutenant Commander a few minutes later. Her J-rock's beamsaber pierced through the hull of an insectlike Mobile Armor. Sparks arcing back and forth between the Suits. The two Mobile weapons fell towards the ground but Hamlin dislodged herself at the last minute. The Mobile Armor impacted the ground hard, and it was clear it wouldn't be rising again.

"Trouble Sir?" Teska asked as the J-Rock rose to met his Jamesgun.

"Hmph…no not really T. Just feeling a bit dizzy, actual sort of drained now that I notice it." _That battle must have really took it out of me. Sweated up a storm too. _Hamlin checked her Suits diagnostics, and was not surprised to see a few red areas. "Seems Suit's Life support is kinda frisky." She said dismissively. To Teska's ears she seemed a little less intense for a mere second. "I feel pretty dang damp in here Teska. Hot too." she added. "Look Teska… I was worried," Hamlin said sounding rather serious but with a hint of sarcasm. "It lowered my reaction time by .502 Seconds," she joked.

Teska let out a tired laugh.

"You ok soldier?" she asked he obviously drained subordinate.

"Just the usual aches sir," a severely tired Teska answered. "You banged up?"

"That bastard wished I bet… Hmm seems like the fighting is dying down…. This place is done for Teska. The Zexens had their fill of blood and carnage." Hamlin said in disgust. Though firefights still flashed in the sky, the Zexen forces seemed to be moving on. Hamlin hardly saw any Federal forces Mobile units still flying. She nodded her respect to her fallen comrades. "At least I sent a few of them to hell for their troubles…," she said falling silent for a long moment, and then she checked her plot. "Wait hey Teska, you still have functional sensors? I have contacts due 344.334.216 on an intercept course with a large Federation IFF signal. Seems to be a capital ship. "We….uughh…….we better help them," she exclaimed coughing roughly for a few seconds. The hacking breaking up her words.

"I can make it, though I am short one beamrifle. Are you really..." Teska asked as Hamlin could her the prodding in his voice.

"I'm ok...so don't ask. Lets go."

---------------------------------------

Lieutenant Commander Hamlin and Teska Villers shot towards the aft of the colony. The IFF code was from an old Ra Cailum class ship the _Radiant. _They headed towards the end of the colony, where the ship docks were located, hoping to get there in time to save it. They hurried, grimly silent with the now lifeless essence of the colony before them. Hamlin's J-rock swayed erratically again, the third time in as many minutes. _Perhaps it was more damaged than it seemed_ Teska now worried. " Sir, you'd better…."

The Re-GZ J-R dropped out of the sky like a rock. And Teska's heart dropped with it. _Why didn't I notice…my god._ "LC! Respond! Respond!"

"Teska…I may…." Hamlin's strained voice cracked over the comm. The Suit seemed to slow its decent some but made a hard landing in a burning forest below. Just barely a few minutes from the Colony's docks. The Jamesgun landed hard itself, Teska not caring about caution. He was out of the thing barely caring that it wasn't set to a safer idling setting. He hit the ground running and rushed off to her Mobile Suit. A quick dash later and he was there. He opened the cockpit and his heart sank again. His Lt. Commander was worse than he thought she was very near death. Her helmet was off and she slumped in her cockpit, trembling. Her eyes scarred him the most, her vibrant and always burning eyes, they were losing their luster.

"Tes….I may have over done myself this time…,"she said, incredibly weak. "Dang life support it's too…t…too cold in here…"

"Hold on Sir! Hold on…" Teska grabbed her gently and placed her on the floor of her cockpit. Ripping away her normalsuit he confirmed his fears. Her normalsuit was soaked through with her own blood…_she has lost so much!_ He tried not to let her see the extreme worry on his face. "LC the rubble. It must have been more than we…"

Hamlin put her weak blood covered hand to his lips "Tes it is all right. I knew I was hurt but…"she paused, coughing up blood. "Didn't expect this though…you know how I am when the adrenaline hits me."

Tears ran down Teska's cheeks. This wasn't happening. Nothing on this day was really happening. It was a nightmare, but it seemed he couldn't will himself awake. He just held the woman he admired so much close to him and cried. Where would he be without her…

"I shouldn't have let this happen..." he told her, holding her closer still. Not wanting to let go of his friend and mentor. " But what could we do at the time it was so…"

"Chaotic," she finished for him. Her eyes had grown even more lifeless. She stared blankly up at the sky above. "…story of my life. At least I had you….."

"and Poe…and Masla…Ren."

Teska was about to respond but the Mobile Suit's communication system cracked, it was picking up a broad range transmission. It was heavily decayed by Minovsky particles. "

"zzzz Repeat. This iz zze EFSF Radzzzt we zzz zzzer attack! Rzzzzzz imediazz assistance. Civilians zzzoard. Zezzz have us surrounded. zzey wont acknowledge zzr surrender. Rezzzz. This is…"

"Tes I want you to rescue them…take my..J-rock," she managed to plead.

"I can't leave you LC… I can't leave you Irene. Not here."

"Don't worry…Tes…I made a good account of myself…today...didn't you see." She was barely rasping out words now. Her voice was a wheezing whisper. "Please Tes you make one of yourself…someone has to help those people. Besides…one of us has to go ave... avenge me."

Teska had a hard time deciding to listen to her but he knew she was right. "I understand," he croaked out, his throat raw. His vision danced as grief and fatigue washed over him.

"Good I didn't….want to have to order…you. I can still...ki…kick your butt...even when I'm…in the grave." She said grimly, trembling to say her words. She seemed beyond pain though. Seemed at peace with herself. "This girl," Hamlin said indicating her Mobile Suit. "Will serve you well, take care of her."

Teska felt her body start to shiver even more as she strained to lean up to him and whisper in his ear. "Irene…please," he admonished her.

"Teska Villers you were a pleasure to serve with…one of the finest soldiers I ever came to know," she said, straining to give him a blood soaked kiss on the cheek. "and you were a pleasure to be around." Teska barely held it together at the power of that gesture.

" I…I...know you will do me…proud…"and with that whatever was left of Irene Hamlin passed on. Her body slumping in Teska's tear soaked arms. "Irene…I…thank you." was all he could say. He sat there for long moments oblivious to the world around him. The burning of the forest. The battle ahead. And the explosions echoing through a colony on its deathbed.

It was only the panicked calls from the Radiant that snapped him awake. Teska got up carrying Irene Hamlin's body and placing it in his Jamesgun. He then climbed into the cockpit of the J-rock wiping tears from his eyes. He had to offer any assistance he could to the survivors of this catastrophe. And as he departed from Irene Hamlin's resting place a deep rage grew from within him. Thought he wouldn't satiate that rage.

Teska would follow Irene's advice and make a good use of himself, he wouldn't do it by blindly going off to die either. Nor would falling into revenge lust serve him. He would avenge Irene Hamlin, _but in another way..._ First thing first was to help the Federation survive this day, any way he could, and that meant helping the _Radiant_. He hoped they were still alive to be saved. By the look of this colony, the Zexen were an unstoppable force of nature.

But maybe it wasn't true all around. As Irene proved, the Zexs high-tech equipment and fanatical thinking didn't guarantee an easy victory, the Federation still had teeth of its own. Teska just had to make sure it survived long enough to show this to the Zexen. Again willing away his fatigue, he brought _Her _Mobile Suit up to speed and rushed to help anyone he could. Leaving the carnage of the dying colony behind him.

---------------------------------------

**Channelside  
**On this day of September the 18th the Zexen Loyal Militaire launched Operation Channelside. A massive engagement of the entirety of the Federal forces stationed at the colonies of the Side 4 cluster. Located at the L1 Lagrange point.

The Federation, basing their assumptions on partially correct data that the Zexen forces would not be able to mount another major operation so soon after their battles at the Lunar defense lines, had no choice at the time but to retreat to this area. Thus hoping for a chance to regroup and repair while the Zexen were supposed to lick their wounds resulting from the Lunar campaign. As a result the surprise attack at L1 caught them in a dire tactical position. The battle, though valiantly fought by the soldiers of the Federation, resulted in a loss of over 70 percent of their forces.

High Command of the Zexen Military smartly agreed to High Admiral Vinay's truly risky but potentially opulent plan. Which was officially designated Operation Channelside only days before it was placed into motion. Many would never realize the part the Luna Line offensive had played in the operation.

This battle plan would end up being a major turning point in the war. In the Zexen's favor.

Despite loosing a large percentage of their forces, the Zexen declared the mission a success. As a result of the operation the Federation's power and influence was drastically crippled across the Earth Sphere and the L1 point was tentatively under Zexen authority. This was a key component for their future goals. Which, among other plans, provided them far easier access to the closer Lagrange points and the Moon itself.

However, the Zexen reports would never call out the substantial tally of "collateral damage" inflicted by the very nature of the intense engagement. Or the even more deplorable destruction caused by so called "extremist" parts of the Zexen fighting machine. On that day though, the Zexen lost their innocence.

And as so usually is the case...it is known that history repeats itself.

---------------------------------------

_Well there you go. Hope it didn't turn out to badly. I was striving to keep a good balance of action in there._

_To tell you the truth I am quite worried about the first prologue. It took me many rewrites to get it the way it was. I was trying to capture the feel of a youngman thrown into the strange world of the antagonist forces he used to fight against. _

_Originally planed on playing this from Aden side of the story. Just focusing on him striving in the Zexen military machine. But through development of the story a greater idea immersed, this just laid the ground work off it. Mostly the first two prologues were to set up the conflict and Zexen, and drop a lot off clues and mysteries about them that the reader would learn about later. It still feels a bit awkward. Though it is much better than it was originally I think. _

_Now this prologue I am rather proud off. Thats right I made two. This prologue took a lot of work. I hope that I was able to pull off Mobile Suit battles, I doubted I could at first. I can do fighter duels and ground combat with not too much trouble but MS battles are a whole other beast. I hope Hamlin's death wasn't too much as I need more experience writing those types of scenes._

_Let me know how it went, good or bad. I reread it many times but I bet I still have grammatical errors I missed. I doubt I put enough detail in this fic, describing the world around the characters, painting it for the reader, is always one of my weaknesses. I don't doubt I have a lot to work on. But I think I did well enough for this amount of work. Now on to rewrite chapters 1-3. What fun! _(-.-);_ And given my workload, I am gritting my teeth for it. _

_But where is this story going you probably wonder... I doubt you would expect it! Until next time I guess. _


	3. Episode 1

_**

* * *

****Part I: Integration  
**_

* * *

**  
A State of War**

Thirteen months into a war between two super powers it would surprise many that the Federation would be the nation reeling. What was, originally, to be a simple conflict for the Federation has become a totally different affair. A war of containment to curtail the latest colonial independence movement, this time from the fanatical Zexen, had become a grueling fight for dominance. Perhaps even a battle for the Federation's very survival.

Initially deemed futile by many spacenoids, the conflict with the Zexen Loyal Militaire had dragged on for more than ten taxing months. And most surprising to many in the solar system with no clear victor in sight. With the Federation holding the advantage for most of the conflict and the Zexen Loyal Militaire constantly on the defensive no one was prepared for what was to come. The hectic months and gruesome battles, atrocities and devastation. The prepared was probably the Earth Federation military. Which had become overconfident after its string of victories and its large overbearing military presence.

Late in the conflict the Zexen Loyal Militaire underwent a huge paradigm shift in their tactics. They began going on a massive, almost suicidal, offensive push. A berserker blitzkrieg that left many doubting the sanity of the Zexen people. Needless to say the Federation was unprepared for the brute ferocity of the attack.

After weeks of intense conflict the Zexen initiated a siege on the Cities of Luna. This drew a large amount of Federation Fleets to break the blockade. In hindsight, it appears that this was what the Zexen stationed there really wanted. Despite the Federal Forces outnumbering them 6 to 1 they faced their enemy with an unsettling zealousness and fury. They attacked the Federal Forces in a series of maddening battles which culminated at the Battle of Luna Line. The Federation finally decided to retreat from the hectic field of battle as the Lunar cities seemed to only have been a lure. Federation Command hoped to draw the Zexen into tiring themselves while they repaired and regrouped their forces. As a result they retreated to, and took over many neutral colonies in the Side 4 cluster. Which was also harboring anti-Federation sentiments themselves. These events set the stage for one of the most brutal battles of the war.

Three Months have passed since the Zexen initiated their now infamous Operation Channelside.

High Admiral Vinay's shrewd and yet gutsy plan was a resounding success. The balance of power had wavered significantly since the High Admiral's gamble bared fruit. This eddy sent vast waves of change throughout the Earth Sphere, even the Entire Solar System.

A large portion of the Federation's space-based power was lost at the battles around Side 4 and simultaneous attacks elsewhere. As a result vast tracks of Federation Space had become undermanned, and some parts were outright unprotected, at least until the Federation could field reinforcements. This left the Federation Forces in the position of protecting its most vital space bases or trying to project its might over large areas. Either way resulting in the critical problem of having their forces isolated easily.

It was during this point that the Federation realized the true extend of the Zexen's ambitions. A goal far from the quest for spacenoid independence they initially used to garner support. Vinay's operation paved the way for the Zexen to potentially become an undisputed force in the Earth Sphere. Scarier still the grim collateral as a result of Channelside showed they were more than eager to do what it took to win. Another thing that shocked many was the amount of resources the Zexen had managed to assemble in their military forces and the grand scale of their strategic planning capabilities. Many began to believe that the Zexen had manipulated appearances for most of the war. The Zexen where largely on the defensive from the start of their independence movement, fighting a desperate struggle. But know it seemed that they were particularly clever in the areas of misdirection. Either their Machiavellian long view planning was used to startling affect, or they summoned a radical amount of luck. Everyone in the solar system was surprised at the turn of events, perhaps even the Zexen themselves.

The Earth Federal Forces, though reeling, still had the advantage in terms of , unit fielding capability, long-term manufacturing capacity, and potential manpower. Thus among the smarter minds in the Federation it was made urgent to initiate a plan of action that would allow them to survive this current storm. These next few months would be the critical points of the war that would most likely determine who eventually claimed total victory. And despite their vast losses the Federal Military still outnumbered the Zexen Loyal Militaire.

Things did not look favorable for them though, as overall the Federal Forces morale and the mid to lower level chains of command were reeling from their recent defeats. Partially do to a simultaneous suicide strike on Federal Forces main space-based headquarters. Whole fleets were lost or missing unable to be located. Certain parts of the Federal Forces were to some extend even going rouge, setting themselves up as de facto warlords separate from Earth Federation High Command. Some of the forces did this out of greed and ambition, some out of necessity. Worst still, many Colonies already under-garrisoned or not favorable to Federation rule were in various stages of revolt. Many remembered the Federations martial invasion of Side 4 despite the Zexen's grim aftermath. Even the few independent Sides were in turmoil. Refusing aid for fear of retaliation or mistrust of the Federation. Luckily these colonies were just as wary of the Zexen thanks to their Side 4 antics. Another critical issue was that of supply. As a result of their lost naval power, the supply lines were spotty at best do to unprotected lines. Further exasperating the already severe problem of Zexen raiding fleets and general privateering. Things that had gone on since the beginning of the War. It would be a monumental task before them

Zexen Forces, on the other hand, heady and arrogant from their fortunate victories now found themselves in the position to become the dominant power in the Earth Sphere. This definitely affected them psychologically. Their long laid plans were now bearing fruit. Their moral was high and so were their forces ambitions. And the Federation was now on the defensive and semi separated by the recent chaos.

But the Zexen were not stupid, as they knew it wouldn't be long before Federation got their act together. So a massive reorganization of their forces took place. From their mostly defensive oriented military new divisions where created for specific duties. Divisions for keeping the Earth Federation Forces off guard and in disarray, while other parts focused on picking off the scattered Federation fleets, and yet another part tasked with defending its own assets. This organization happened swiftly again showing the Zexen's far reaching planning. The Zexen had obviously gone into the next phase of their plans.

Things wouldn't be anywhere near easy for the Zexen though. These new developments were not as favorable to the Zexen as they may have planned. In some ways they might prove rather costly in the long run. They had a host of problems to deal with new and old.

True, Operation Channelside and their offensive in general was yielding many promising returns. But the brutishness of the operations had played a toll on Zexen military personnel. Far more so than Military Materials. After months of desperate defense to suddenly shifting into unrelenting and reckless advance the Zexen military's personnel were approaching critical mass. This was further exasperated by the death toll of the grueling Operation Channelside. Vinay and High Command knew this going in but decided the risk was worth it. This "temporary shortfall of personnel" would probably come back to haunt them later in the war. Already they were forced to field more and more newly recruited and "drafted" personnel.

Secondly, the Zexen where suffering the effects of over eating. They had expanded too fast and gorged themselves. The colonies of Side 4, ravaged as they were, was a sizable increase in their holdings. They just would not have the resources at this moment to even begin to safely secure anything. They could only hope that by keeping the pressure on the Federation it would provide them time to catch up with their own momentum. This was to be augmented by a large surge in Military recruitment and volunteers.

Other factors were the Zexen's progressively more fanatical and ambitious Elites and Field Leaders. Individuals that would increasingly come at odds with the more traditional minded and reserved High leaders. The command of the Zexen Loyal Militaire was falling more and more under the controlling reign of the Zexen's Newtype Elite. The Templars. The Templars' methods did not always mesh with traditional regulations or tactics. These Templars held the awe and unquestioning loyalty of the common man in the Zexen Loyal Militaire to the annoyance of the Zexen's more normal leaders. The common people flocking to the Zexen "Evolution" banner were becoming increasingly fanatical and hard to control in their own right. As more and more new converts flocked to the cause from all over the Earth Sphere.

The other major powers in solar system and other rouge forces were another concern but the Zexen Loyal Militaire already had ideas to move those pieces off the field. Or so they thought.

It would be the smaller, harder to define pieces that could cause the largest eddies in the pool. Little unrelated incidents that could inevitably affect the course of the war, one small event at a time, chaining together... like a snowball effect.

* * *

**Episode 1 : Messenger of the Gods.**

* * *

"_As hellacious as this one is…wars come and go. But I'll still be doing my trade. Plying the spacelanes, and moving my wares from port to port," – Marcus, intersystem transport Captain._

---

"Transer MS0014, You have been authorized to approach along the appropriate course. We are transmitting... now." said the near monotone Controller. _Maybe they are robots_, thought the transport pilot Will Baker, _It wouldn't surprise me in the least. Especially considering the mechanized nature of all the Federal Official drones I've dealt with_. "Be aware," The Controller droned on, "Any unauthorized deviation from this course will cause you to be fired upon with intent to kill."

"Duh, Weighter," Will said jokingly to himself, using the common spacer slang for Earthnoids, "Like this isn't the fiftieth time I have been here." Will said out loud before he clicked the transmit button on his pocket communicator. "Acknowledged HRM Control.," was his purposefully neutral response.

Though Will knew security had been increased yet again, because of mercenary forces reputedly in the area, he still got a little agitated. He understood some of their concerns, especially considering the purpose of this base. That didn't mean he had to like the scrutiny even after being subjected to it time and again.

He'd heard that the pirates in the area had been initiating raids on unsuspecting helpless freighters, perhaps by using the "wolf in sheep's clothing" approach. This did not worry him though as this ship was far from a helpless freighter. In fact it tried its best to appear helpless. The MS0014 was actually a clandestine Federation military transport. It was armed and heavily armored as well as protected by two on board Mobile Suits. This wouldn't do more than surprise any dedicated assailants though. So it primarily relied on its stealth capabilities, its speed, and misdirection. To anyone else other than the crew the ship appeared as a rundown old Transer class bulk transport.

These "skulk transports", as Will called them , were used to ferry any manor of secrets around for the Federation. Not many people knew about them or what they carried, even within the Earth Federation Forces . They stealthily traveled from destination to destination, always under the radar, transporting anything from V.I.P. "soft cargo" to experimental equipment. _Which we happen to have both of this time, _thought Will with amusement. Will and the ships captain were in on the secret as well, _but only because the Federation needed someone to drive the ships. _Will knew full well he was nothing more than a glorified delivery boy. Or so the Federation High Command probably thought...

Getting out of his meditative position, he kicked his foot off the ceiling of the Transport's bridge. Flipping himself "right side up", so that he was able to sit in the main seat. Buckling in, he checked his course and entered it, then checked over his other displays. Will would need to hurry up on his propulsion burn. He clicked the Transports comm. system and paged the Captain. "Sir we are a go. Ready when you are." he said, "Oh mind you, there is not much time," he added whimsically. The Captain was probably holding conversation with the "soft cargo."

This had been a long trip from Earth and at first their passengers were very wary of them, and kept mostly to themselves. It had taken weeks on the ship together before they even spoke to each other more than out of necessity. Now, after quite the long trip the Captain had managed to draw them out a bit. He delighted in discussing with some of the scientists about many a topic, and the others as well. Will didn't exactly know if he liked these people though. He didn't trust them or what they did for the Federation. He particularly felt uneasy around the two "Specials." Something wasn't right about them.

A minute later the door to the cockpit opened and the Transport's Captain, Remers Cole floated over to his seat, a little above Will's position. An older man with a full beard, speckled through with gray, Remers had that calm and extremely laid back look to his face. Will had never seen the man angry before, and Will 's antics over the years had given much to get angry about. The Captain quickly plopped down into his chair and began flipping controls. "What?" replied Remers, noticing his co-pilots stare. "I made it in time Will."

Will just shot him a bemused glance.

"Well there was this particularly attractive Officer type back there I was chatting with," he said brushing the bristles of his beard thoughtfully.

"Oh her, we've been chatting a lot lately. The Scientist with the braids, she is pretty cute. "

"Who? Will, I was talking about the sharp looking fellow, with the golden hair."

"One of the Test Pilot guys? One of the specials?" Will said raising one eyebrow, definitely amused. "I don't know Capt'n. He seems all wrong for you. Trust me, you don't want to fall for us bad boys old man."

"I'll be the judge of that," the Captain said conspiratorially.

Punching in a few quick keys, The Captain initiating a burn from the engines. Almost instantly The Transport ship, _June Ates, _began to vibrateas the engines carried it forward. Something like gravity began to exert itself on the pilots of the Transport. This was the relatively easy part when coming to their destination, the Hermes Research Base. The hard part of things over, the meandering approach to get on their present approach vector. One had to be rather careful when approaching Hermes Research Base, for more than a few reasons. Some security related and some because of minor navigational dangers. A large part of the final approach was in lining up on the same plane with Hermes before proceeding. Even though it wasn't dangerous they were very paranoid at the HRB. Sometimes he had to explain this to a few relatively impatient passengers when pressed about travel times. It seemed that some Earth Sphere natives did not exactly understand the idea that they were not the center of the solar system.

The door to the cockpit opened as a few of their passengers walked in. Including that cute scientist girl Will Baker has an eye on. _Of course they would want to see this. _Grandstanding he stood and did a little bow indicating the viewport. "First timers," he said in his most knowledgeable sounding voice. "The lightshow, nothing like anywhere else in the Solar System. It is a rather stunning sight. Personally, I never get tired of it."

"Indeed," added Captian Cole. "You may want get anyone else interested, this is the only place you can get a good view, since most of the ship is heavily shielded."

"Wow, it is amazing," said one of the other passengers, adding to the ahs of excitement from the others.

"Seems like this place will be far more fun than I thought," someone said. Will turned to see that it was the Test Pilot that caught Cole's eye. The pilot nodded again definitely impressed, "Damn look at that."

There, a large spot off the bow of the ship, was the Hermes Research Base. A huge dark space rock, backed on the reverse side by partially visible panels of metal. Behind it though was the true beauty. The grayish glowing orb covered in shadow, surrounded by a magnificent Aura of brilliant light. Then a little up and behind it a beautiful bright ball. A shimmering sphere of energy that appeared almost 3 times as large as it did back in the Earth Sphere. Such was the effect that it took the breath away. This was the only habital place in the solar system to get such a view, and it was close to the sun as many dared go.

"Welcome to the Hermes Research Base…." Captain Remers Cole said with a large smile.

"... Welcome to Mercury."

----------------------------------- ---

Mercury 

The closest planet to the sun. A sun blasted lump of rock barely larger than our Moon. A simple description yet perhaps not. As with most of the planets in the solar system Mercury is riddled with a multitude of strange quirks. One would think this the last place humans would try to inhabit, but its peculiar traits made it an inviting prize.

It is easy to think of Mercury as just a hot rock close to the sun, a common misconception, but the planet is actually place of extremes. Temperatures on the grayish world range from well above 400°C. But because of the planets peculiarly slow orbital spin the "night side" of the planet remains dark for long periods of Mercury's rotation around the Sun. Also, combined with the fact that not much heat is retained by the planet do to its small atmosphere, and temperatures can reach less than 160°C.

Before common people realized this, Mercury would have seemed like the last place in the Solar System anyone would go searching for ice. Scorched by the burning heat of the Sun any exposed frozen water would instantly be evaporated. But as it was theorized in earlier times, ice might actually be found there. It had been known for centuries that Mercury revolves around the Sun once every 88 days, the fastest orbital period for a planet in the solar system, thus its name. Mercury, after the messenger of the gods. But the fact that the Planet also has a rotational period of 58 days means that one side of the planet can effectively remain obscured from the suns blazing heat. Also the craters located mostly at the poles of the planet were special in that they remain perpetually shaded even when facing the Sun. As it was theorized, the water was indeed found. This was one of the particular traits that made Mercury inviting to the more independent, pioneering, profiteer minded humans.

These diverse factors managed to make Mercury far more hospitable and desirable than one would originally assume. This coupled with its one of Mercury's other main features. Its isolated nature.

Exploration to Mercury was curtailed in the earlier parts of the Universal Century due to the strain of a mass migration of 8 billion inhabitants to space. With all the Herculean efforts involved in just creating a sustained environment for a new class of people, Spacenoids, the exploration of the solar system fell to the wayside. Though some deep research expeditions did take place, a majority of such research missions were ended by instability in the earth sphere. Mainly the Zeon's war of independence, and other subsequent wars. But ironically it was those turbulent events that later contributed to the colonization efforts focused on the far flung reaches of the Solar System.

Around as early as UC91, some 30 years before the beginning of the Crossbone revolutions, independent and sponsored expeditions arrived to study Mercury with some detail. Which resulted in the discovery of water. That factor alone lead to a rush of various people to the area. Where there is readily available water, human settlements are that much more feasible, and likely to survive.

Mercury's original population consisted mostly of the scientists there to study the planet. It was not soon however that they were joined by various nomads and refugees seeking to eke out any living as they could on the dark side of the surface. Early attempts to settle the Planet were very dangerous. Due to the attempts by prospectors to find valuable minerals, early settlements on the planet were underground. These early shelters were substandard and poorly constructed but were maintained for around a decade. Later years saw the introduction of artificial satellites as settlements such as small planetoids, mobile bases, and stations. Even one miniature, closed cylinder colony of the O'Neal type, possible by maintaining a geosynchronous orbit with the dark side of the planet. Many of the more elaborate settlements were made possible because of a small rush of financial concerns that came to the area. Some were mining concerns, others were those looking for unregulated areas to conduct business. One of the largest ventures was by a Colonial based corporation, called Nexus Development. They did research into energy transference, and energy regulation. Nexus was looking for cheap and efficient ways of gathering fuel. They hoped to capture the relatively limitless energy of the sun by constructing large solar collecting satellites and beaming the energy back to earth in the form of microwaves. This large venture helped to boost the local economy for a time, as the vast array of collectors were constructed, but eventually proved unsuccessful as a major profit earner. Though a few of the satellites still operate.

Over the last few decades many of the settlements have fallen on harder times. As projects failed, or nomadic concerns moved on, the old settlements began to degrade from lack of maintenance with many settlements now dead. Still there were many who chose to stay in this area stubbornly. Simply for the reason of Mercury's other main feature, its privacy. Mercury is uninviting and out of the way and many found it easy to disappear into the area that lacked any official government presence. Criminals found these traits desirable as well. Ironically, it would be the general lawlessness in the area that drew the Federation to the Mercury sector to "maintain order" and protect the still functioning mining operations and collection satellites. Even then, a major Federation presence did not stay for long, but it was the Federation's love of Mercury's privacy that drew them to set up a base in their leave. A small highly independent and self-contained Supply Base that left a token Federal Presence in the area. This was, of course, part of its cover.

Covertly this supply base became the home of the Hermes Research Base. The ability to maintain a highly secure facility was becoming increasingly difficult close to home. They saw the need for a few far removed, private research and testing grounds, Mercury proved to be an ideal locale. Functioning as a Resupply base, and maintaining minimal contact with normal Federal Forces channels kept it under the radar. Overtime, more and more man power was transferred to and from the base. Systems and personnel ferried in to bolster the R&D capability of the station, mostly accomplished through subterfuge. The facility has mostly been involved in the testing and development of weapon systems and even a few high level research projects. As the Zexen Conflict was brewing it became rather apparent that the Zexen Mobile Suit technology was, by leaps and bounds, better than standard Fed suits. Thus a push was initiated in many of the Federation's Research and Development think tanks to develop mobile weaponry to first understand the Zexen's incredible breakthroughs, and then if possible develop technology to counteract it or bring their own projects into parity.

Though many related factors are usually involved in a war, it was well known that powerful Mobile Suit technology could swing the balance of a conflict. As was incredibly apparent during conflicts like the One Year War, and Cosmo Babylonia Wars. The Federation was not inclined to suffer that fate again. And so it fell to the Hermes Research Base, among others to achieve success…

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"It has finally arrived Commander Wasaw," a young officer said addressing the HRB Base Commander. The Officer had an amused smile on his face as he eagerly relayed this information. The Base Commander stopped what he was doing at the news. "It is about time," said the weary Commander of the Hermes Base, he leaned forward in his chair massaging his temples. A pile of documents obscured his desk, more on the IN pile than the OUT pile. He signed again, feeling even more tired now. Federation Research High Command had finally sent all the packages he needed to get their research projects up to speed.

After massive delays and annoyances, it would be good to progress forward. But secretly he dreaded their arrival. _To think, just managing this base alone could produce this immense amount of paperwork and data, this many headaches. How much worse will things be when the main projects are underway, _The Base Commander thought to himself. On the Brightside, at the least he would get those impatient scientists off his back. "Those Scientist were about to tire my last nerve about their project's schedule. Don't they understand the security process that added and extra 9 weeks to the travel time alone." He said aloud to the young officer, who did a good job of maintaining an impassive face at the outburst.

"Well that Dr. Mishima doesn't seem so bad sir." The young man offered.

"That's because you don't have to deal with all the incessant whining of the labheads all the time." The Base Commander barked, again rubbing his temples. "God Emerson I swear those people…" Base Commander Wasaw sighed heavily, "Well let's go check out the cargo Emerson. I want to see what those Moon boys have for us to test out here." The Commander yawned as he raised out of a chair he had spent long hours in. "Lets see what all this nonsense has been about. What everyone is 'supposedly' looking forward to arriving."

"Well sir," Emerson ventured. "I think more of us are interested in the news from the front sir. With the blackout we haven't heard anything good or bad for months it seems. .I would… many of us would like to know what is going on."

"Don't worry yourself Lieutenant," He said shuffling an unruly gathering of papers and other documents into order in his arms. "Here take these Emerson." He grunted. "Frankly I have no doubt we have routed the foolish spacenoids by now. It's always something with these inane colonist fools, they never learn."

Emerson hid his apprehension well at that comment. He was from the colonies after all, in fact his relatives fought for Zeon way back when. But Emerson held his tongue. He knew it would do him no good. In his experience Earthnoids like the Commander weren't even aware of hurtful comments like that. "Uh sir, another thing," he said handing Wasaw another piece of synthpaper, a bit clumsily as papers were now stacked in his arms. "Reports are in from sentry. It seems the lawless element from Delta Sig. point has been increasing again."

The Commander read the report quickly before leaving. Sighing again he joined the Lieutenant leaving the room. "Those pirates are getting rather aggressive again , one of the Aberes Mine facilities was harassed. Tell Captain Renolds to prepare the _Casey_. We may have to deal with the problem then if they are going to force the issue." He said as he joined Emerson as they walked down the hall.

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_Hermes Main Docking Bay_

A mass of personnel descended into the 'Great Hollow' of the Hermes Main Docking Bay. The base was made mostly out of an existing planetoid. It was easily hollowed out to suit the purposes of a supply base. Not much of the interior of the docking bay was made of metal, most of it was just the exposed and smoothed rock surface. "Up" above in the cavernous bay, one of the Hermes Research Bases' capital ships hung. An old Clop class ship, _The Casey, _sat secured and suspended by the clamps of its berth. Usually the ships were on hand to be worked on for routine maintenance, but no crew swarmed over the hull this day. Scientist, mechanics, and soldiers, edgy and giddy from the expected arrivals had gathered at the main landing approach. The new Suits would be here today. It was D-Day. The excitement of it all was affecting everyone.

One maintenance worker wanted to join in the "festivities" but he knew he had a few more activities to do… just like everyone else awaiting the transport. He just wanted to actually get his stuff done for the day before he cut loose. Like his current task, repairing a few problems in two of the _Casey's_ Mobile Suits.

And he could get it done faster of course, if his assistant would well…assist him. He looked over to the other Mobile Suit and saw her small form, leaning back on the Mobile Suit frame. Her head nodding as she grooved to some tune blasting on her headphones, she lay back staring out of the open bay into space. She was lost to the world, _again. _"Reika!" yelled Ray Heinburg, to no response._ Typical_, he mused. He finished his latest project and sprung himself and his tools off of the suit easily, even though Ray was a larger man than most. A tall heavier set man he bounded down from the Jegan R he was working on quite easily, the low to nil gravity at the Hermes facility making such movement possible. He ran a hand through his low-cut course brown hair, as he approached his helper, trying to figure out how to handle her.

She wasn't a bad assistant. _Not at all, _he thought She was actually quite adept with machines and made a pretty decent mechanic. Ray smiled slightly at the thought. It was actually amusing watching her work sometimes. She once told the crew that she hadn't really any formal training, she seemed to just have a knack for machines, electronics. She said she loved taking things apart and placing them together again, loved to see how they worked. So Ray decided to teach her what he knew, and found to his surprise that she could do wonders…_if she could focus on her work that is_. She was a rather inquisitive girl always wanting to explore the world around her. Which, he had to admit could also be one of her bigger faults too. Reika would just get lost sometimes…

But it was more than just simple daydreaming. He once joked that she was like his old cat, Bartholomew. His old cat would just sit there sometimes for hours just _Lost_. Seemingly tuning out the world, just staring out into space. But he was later told that cats do that mostly because they where very sensitive creatures, it was more likely they were tuning in the world than tuning it out. Their brains trying to process that hoard of sensory data received by their hypersensitive bodies. Reika seemed like that sometimes.

Ray approached the suit she worked on and could now hear her softly singing the lyrics of some song she was listening to. There she was, lounging on the arm of her resized Jegan,_ like a cat, _eyes closed, head nodding idly_… _A strange girl.

"R…."Ray started to say.

"What do you need? …Oh hey Ray," she said snapping out of her reverie, and interrupting Ray just as he decided to speak. She was a strange girl alright.

"Um Reika, you do know we have work to do?" He said, trying to talk with authority. "I want to be done with this work today you know."

"I was working on it….." Reika said trailing off. "Oh heh heh, amusing," she said blinking her eyes as she sat up, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Sorry Ray. I was…I don't know, thinking about something," she finished, noticing his scrutiny. She shrugged innocently, waving a lock of black hair out of her face.

"You aren't mad at me are you?" she said, giving him that winning smirk of hers. Ray slumped as if defeated, there was no use now, he could not stay angry at that adorable smirk of hers. Many couldn't. _I wonder if she is actually aware of that fact though_, Ray thought, _knowing her I'd wonder… _"Look kid." He tried again, waving his arms out to the side. "I know you haven't a care in the world. But come on, help me out here. I want to get done so I can go join the others…"

"No worries, I'm done." She said flatly.

Ray's mouth hung open, "What? But you said you were.."

Reika shook her and shrugged again. "Just a reflex I guess." She smiled sheepishly. "Maybe I like to procrastinate too much. Reflex response."

Ray could only look at her, his mouth gapping open still. "But when did you find the time to complete all your assignments? It took me a while just for that cursed S.O.B. over there."

"Mother was being a pain, again. And I was thinking of other things….I couldn't go to sleep really. So I came here. Worked all night to tell you the truth," She said, as if realizing it for the first time herself.

"Sorry I doubted you then Ms. Mishima." Ray said regaining his composure, throwing Reika his so-called "wry"" smile.

"Yeah it's ok, you know it helped me get my mind off things. I really hate it here sometimes…I find I actually miss the Earth Sphere…I miss my old life." Reika said looking back out into space.

Reika Mishima was the child of a Federal Forces officer and one of the researchers here at this base. With the war as it was, she was sent here to the Hermes to be with her mother rather than stay in the ever volatile Earth sphere. Ray wasn't actually sure what her mother did here, but he did know that the relationship wasn't too good between them. With a distant father, perhaps lost in the war, and a mother more involved in her work than her daughter, Reika was a textbook latchkey kid. On a whole order of magnitude greater. Someone more used to raising themselves that having a stable household. Ray figured she missed her clan of likewise off youths. "You know I do as well." Ray sympathized. "I haven't seen my home on the Earth in four years."

Reika nodded then jumped down off the mobile suit to meet him. "Hey Ray I'll help you mop up the other Suit."

Ray shook his head. "Naw. Why don't you take the rest of the day off? "

"Thanks. I guess," she said, looking at him quizzically.

"Going to wait for the MS to arrive?" he asked her. A little excitement in his voice. "It's Crazy but the MSI Project is finally going to begin testing. We are finally going to see the new Mobile Suits! I can't wait to see them… " It was well know that Ray was a Mobile Suit enthusiast, perhaps fittingly for the strange duo, Reika was a mobile suit lover as well.

"Well I guess I have been intrigued," she said. "Truth be told Ray, I've really been waiting for something else other the new Mobile Suits'." She looked down for a second, fearing that color was rising into her cheeks. Ray had to admit he was intrigued at this, something special was on that shuttle he didn't know about. "What do you think Ray?" she said, dodging his quizzing look with a question.

Ray rubbed a dirty hand over his face, which elicited a cute giggle from Reika, as it always did. "I don't think they would let an old grease monkey like me get a hold off them."

"Well I know but I was going to make sure I saw them one way or another. So I'm in no rush. You're free to join me" she said smiling deviously. "I have my ways…"

He held his hands up, in reserve. "I don't doubt that you do. Heh heh but I can't afford any time in the brig," Reika threw him that winning smile of hers as she left.

"Good night Ray. I'll see tomorrow. And don't spend forever on that last suit. I know you consider yourself a perfectionist but…."

Ray accepted her ribbing of his speed in stride. "Hey I'd watch it if I was you. Someone is going to have to get you out of Solitary young lady."

Reika left the Mobile Suits behind. A big smile on her face. Though it was more about who was on the coming shuttle than the equipment it was carrying. _Will was coming. _She hadn't told Ray about her friend yet. She hadn't seen him in months. He'd actually sent her a letter earlier in the year letting her know he might be on his way sometime. When she heard about the transport on approach she knew with certainty that Will was on it. Even though Ray and her had become quite close, there was something about Will Baker. Reika never felt as giddy as when Will was at the Research Base.

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It took another thirty minutes for the transport to land. As the outer bay doors closed the intermediary chamber was pumped full of atmosphere. Base Commander Wasaw had agreed to keep the Docking Bays of the Research Base closed for non assisted travel and work. He found it helped with productivity and morale, and only kept the doors open to space as necessary. Space could still be seen though through large reinforced Viewports, guarded by blast shutters. Those he kept open to help relax the stuffy Research Base.

The intermediary bay doors finally opened and the Signals Officer waved the Transer in. The first arrival of a new ship in about four months, the atmosphere of the Base was electric. The apparently old Transer class ship glided into the docking bay to some amount of fanfare. A larger than usual crowd of personnel populated the bay. The arrival of new transports had become something of an anticipated event around the Research Base, but this was special. Everyone in the bay probably had different reasons for expecting it. Some for precious information; On the war, News, mail, information on loved ones. A craving greatly exasperated by the bases security communication blackout, not to mention the isolated location of the base. Some looked forward to any new development or device to work on. Many, mostly the scientists, tech heads, and developers craved the updated data and equipment. But this was a special arrival to all. They were here. The new Mobile Suits…

---

Once the hold was secured and pressure equalized the hatchway on the Transport decanted and the passengers of the old Transer walked out into the cavernous hold of the Hermes Docking Bay. Many were more that eager to escape the tedious and cramped quarters that they had spent so much time on, journeying through space.

A young man with a rather dazzling set eyes and shocking yellow hair bounded off of the exit bays. He looked around, taking it all in, as if judging the essence of the place. He nodded to himself and somersaulted over the breath of the crowd gathered around the shuttle and landed a few meters behind them. This of course drew the ire of a few Officers on deck. _Already pissed off a few stuffed shirts, heh, they haven't even began to see my antics, _the yellow haired man thought. Jehan Lasus though, did not care, he was definitely feeling appreciative to be out of it that cramped ship. He was just happy to be able to stretch himself without the cramp confines of the four walls in a shuttle. Sure it was a decent ship for its job, but far more cramped than even the smallest Federation ship. Especially when it was carrying a full load, stuffed to the gills with equipment and personnel. It was probably the worst thing to do to a man who couldn't fathom sitting still or seeing the same place for more that a short amount of timee. Jehan's mind and body were practically screaming to become active. How those shuttle jockeys did this for a living he didn't know. He nodded to the passing pilot…Will Baker, out of respect. _"I guess it takes a certain kind," _he mused. _By God there was nothing to do on that trip. No trouble to get into…, _Jehan thought checking out the assembled group of base personnel. And he was quite surprised to find one or two "intensities" shout back to him. He smiled wondering if they even knew.

Gathering his duffel bag, Jehan checked out the bay in detail, noting the Old Clop class up above. "Well looks like I traded one cramped space for another albeit larger one," he said aloud. It wouldn't be that bad though since the New Suit was here. He'd be as active as possible, more than that even with the work ahead of him and it filled him with delight. Jehan almost felt bad for the new Mobile Suits, he hoped they could handle him…

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All right you dogs!" yelled a stout officer handling a large cloth bag. He almost seemed comical, as the bag had to be twice his size, possible due to the low gravity of Hermes research Base. He took a hard stance, inhaled a large breath, and bellowed "Mail!"

A small melee started as people flocked to see if they would receive the goods. Will barely dodged that squall… when another storm found him. Though as storms went he definitely didn't mind this one. "Will!" the Storm blurted. A short, young, blur of black hair tackled him off his feet.

Disoriented, Will looked up at the hyperkinetic energy ball that he knew as a friend. "Hey cutestuff, it's been a while." Will Baker said, giving her his most roguish grin. He looked up from the ground and was rewarded with cheeks turning rather red.

"Will Baker, I told you not to take so long in stopping back by." Reika Mishima said, a faux pout on her face

"You know I have no control over that Reika," he said smiling, then looking at the attention they had drawn. And Reika's position over him... "Reika dear… Hey do you mind not straddling me here. We are sort of drawing a little too much attention." She only smiled at him, with that winning smirk of hers. "Hey Reika, you know I like you and all…." he said again as she moved to "dismount" him.

"Like you aren't enjoying it.," she said, as she got up and helped Will to his feet.

"Well yeah but…." Will purred, dusting himself off. "But I only just got here. I can't get myself hated on my first day back by drawing the attention of your admirers," Will said in jest. Will rose and let loose a long sigh as he stretched his tired muscles, almost falling backwards in the process. "By heaven, it is good to have some room. I'm a spacer born and breed for sure, but even I get a touch of the sickness after being cramped up for so long."

"About how I feel being trapped on this rock," Reika added with a gesture.

"What? This? This is cake girl," Will said waving to the space of the Docking bay beyond. "You know, I'm glad to be a spacenoid, I wouldn't want to be anything else. But sometimes I feel I get a glimmer of why the Earthers like to cling to that rock so hard."

"I couldn't even begin to image that kind of space," Reika thought a loud. "Even being colony born. It's almost…"

"Too opulent, I think would be the word." Will said shaking his head. "Ah well, let me get my stuff unpacked. Looks like I may be here for a bit."

"That's good to hear, we have some time to catch up," she said eagerly. A bright light in her eyes.

"How bout over some dinner tonight maybe?"

She stopped suddenly. "You askin me out?" Reika asked, flirtation and mirth in her voice.

"Huh? No…Are you kidding me? Imagine for a second the ire that would cause. One of the few babes on this installation and I sneak her up. Fresh off the boat."

"Flatterer." Reika interrupted.

"besides… 15 will get you 20. Kid. What do you take me for?" Will finished a devilish grin on his face.

"Kid? I'll have you know I'll be 18 very soon." She said hitting him in the arm.

Will deflected the blow and put her in the headlock. "All right Ok. I'll check you later. I'll be unloading my stuff for a bit, filling out forms, and generally being debriefed by these wanks deep and hard." Will shivered at the thought. "We were a little late and I bet they will want to know why. Don't wait up for me."

"Have fun then, don't let then make you do anything I wouldn't do" she said as Will started to make his way.

."Oh that doesn't leave much to hold out on, Miss capital T for Trouble," he fired back casually. Though he put his arms up in surrender at her quasi amused and shocked face. She started to leave again, on her way back to her quarters Will guessed. "Hey kid," Will said, turning Reika's head around. "You really have grown since I last saw you." He emphasized with purposefully creepy smirk.

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Reika was still a little heady as she made her way to leave the docking bay. Will was here but she admitted that things were a bit different now. Sure she had hit it off with him as if he never left but she felt awkward around him now. She felt embarrassed about this, but that certainly did not make sense. Why had she been so put off by his slick style, wit, and that handsome smile now and not in the past. Why was she noticing this now? She didn't really have the time to ponder her feelings over her old friend though.

As she was leaving the bay, she passed by the throng of personnel gathered around the shuttle. Easing through a small crowd she suddenly felt a strange sensation. A sharp bolt struck her, a tingling down her spine. Almost instinctively she turned and her eyes locked almost instantly on a young Earth Federation officer gliding across the bay. A young man with bright yellow hair, tall and lean. _And his eyes. _His shockingly piercing eyes, seemed as if they were on fire. He seemed to possess a palpable aura as if it was tangible. She hadn't felt anything as like it sense…. "Aden.. " she said without knowing.

"But that's not your name is it." She said mumbling to herself, unknowingly. The young officer flashed a smile her way, and nodded to her as he glided further away. Leaving Reika to muse what was wrong with her.

And like that the moment was gone. _What in the hell was that… _, she thought as she wandered back to her quarters a little frazzled but still excited.

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A large gasp escaped from everyone in the bay as the large transfer housing beds descended from the June Ates cargo hold. Large humanoid shapes lay flat on the transport beds, covered by thick grayish tarps and manacles. Lending the gargantuan Mobile Suits concealed under, the air of restrained giants, or some monstrous experiment that was not to be seen by the light of day.

One full suit came down the hold. Followed by another Mobile Suit which seemed to require a lot more assembly. It's Torso on one bed and the "Legs" on another. Once out on the open bay they were descended on by an army of technicians and soldiers. Some eager to get started on their work and others hoping to catch a glimpse of it.

"Finally Ms. Mishima, it took them long enough," said a dark haired scientist, brushing his long hair away from his face. He was gaunt, emaciated. A lanky man with sallow eyes, and a hard driven look in his face. "I can finally experiment on my little angels…it seems an eternity have I waited."

"I agree. The timing couldn't be better" said the female scientist standing next to her colleague, though there was an under current of ire to her voice. She didn't like to be called Miss. _And he knows this, _she thought. She had worked too hard to obtain her Doctorates and would be accorded the same respect as any of the other scientists at the station. _But he still insists on playing his inane little games. Perhaps with these new "Toys" we can finally drop this foolishness and do something productive._ She was a tall woman with short light blonde hair, and a somewhat ethereal, aloof beauty. She looked much younger than her 42 years of age. She spoke with an accented language compared to many on the station. It rang of an old European country many in space did not recall. She was Doctor Anastasia M. Mishima one of the researchers attached to the new MSI Project dubbed "Ikarus."

Her colleague was one Doctor Heleon Tomas. The so-called Mobile Suit master. _Like he needs any more excuses to further bloat his already distended ego, _Mishima thought with mild disgust. Tomas was the overall head of the testing to be done here and had personally helped with the design of the new machines and various theoretical technologies that would be apart of their testing. Mishima had to admit that his abilities did deserve respect despite the colossal ego involved. But such was the way of research departments and development teams. Give hyper-talented people a "pet" project and little fiefdoms were inevitably created.

Mishima wasn't about to cow to them though, she was far from ordinary in her own write. She was quite the specialist in her own fields of expertise. Mishima had come to this research base about two years ago. But she was tasked with paving the way for the others to come, to begin work on the new MIS Project rather late in her stay. Originally her purpose here was experimentation and research on another field of importance to the Federation. Then the newest wasteful war broke. And when High Command decided to move their new project out here, they drafted her into the project as well. Which they named Project Ikarus in an uncharacteristic show of mirth she thought. Annoyed at first, upon review of the projects goals, she found herself quite intrigued. It would be a delicious challenged to her.

Dr. Tomas had only arrived about nine months ago but immediately projected his authority. Usurping what resources and favors he could and generally marked his territory. Which Mishima expected, but when he began trying to make her jump through hoops then she knew she would end up detesting him. Since then their subtle and overt sniping had gone on pretty much the entirety of his stay at Hermes.

"While I am definitely glad to have something to do now that they are here, I still don't understand what all this fuss is about." Mishima said indicating the large crowd around the newly arrived shuttle. Though she knew she was just being disagreeable with Heleon.

Dr. Tomas glanced at her incredulously, a bright shine in his eyes. "Please my dear Ms. Mishima. You can not fool me. Besides I know with some certainty that you are just as eager as I to proceed." He looked over at her mysteriously before continuing, "And despite what you may think my dear lady I'm eager to see what you can do. Especially with your hands on our promised Pilots. Or should the word Test Subject be more apt."

Dr Mishima only hooded her eyes. One of her fields of specialty was in Human Neural Biology. Particularly in what some called Proto-Evolutionary humans, more commonly known as New Types. The "specially gifted" people, responsible for causing so much trouble for Federation in the current War.

The Zexen belief was that these Newtypes, mutations of human norm, were heralds to the next step in Human Evolution. This issue was one of many Mishima, and many other scientists in her field studied about Newtypes. So many unusual and phenomenal incidents involving Newtypes had happened over the years it was like pollen to bees for the scientific community. Feth take him, Mishima had to admit she was glad to finally have a decent setting to do extensive research on the beings. When she was ousted out here those few short years ago she thought she would have a few Newtypes spared to come out here. But things hadn't turned out that way, especially after the outbreak of war with the evolution fanatics the Zexen. The Federation had their hands more than full and needed any and every type of pilot they could get. Especially their own Newtypes.

"Ms. Mishima, how many do we have by the way?"

"I'm rather disappointed actually. They only sent us two," Mishima said with a little disappointment creeping into her voice. "And worst, one is artificial. This will not exactly help my research a lot, but it will do. Though I shouldn't be surprised what with the war. "

Dr. Tomas took a little enjoyment out of her dissatisfaction. "Two should be sufficient for my needs," he added with childlike glee.

"Hmmp. I just hope your little toys can handle them. I've heard stories about these types of hotshots. Especially when they are…unstable."

"Oh you'll be surprised by what these machines can do," said Dr. Tomas closing his eyes, a little smile playing across his face.

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_Yeah well I said it would be a while between chapters. A lot of shake ups in the life of Tsavong Lah have seen to that. _

_This chapter was originally about twice as long. But how insano is it to put out a chapter that long. No one would want to finish it. Time for some judicious rewriting and reploting. I had a few ideas I want to implement . This thing is flowing nicely. The idea river that is…_

_Thanks to any one that is giving this a chance. I appreciate it. Make sure to let me know if you spot any errors. Or just want to chime in on something a little off, the outside perspective helps. Did I put enough description of the environs? I think that is one of my flaws, I sometimes get to bogged down with dialog that I don't describe what is going on in the background. At least I feel this way. Did you all get a good feel for Hermes?_


	4. Episode 2

_

* * *

_**_Episode 2: Void _**

* * *

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"_Nothing but endless darkness…. To think how small we humans are compared to the span of the Solar System… To realize this upon looking out into that void… A man has cause to lose his sanity…._ - Zexen Captain, Independent Operations Division

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A group of warships glided through the endless darkness of space like a pack of predatory fish. Three ships alone in the immense, dimensionless sea between planets of the Solar System. They glided along relentless, a pack of carnivores in search for their prey.

These ships, of the Zexen Loyal Militaire's Special Security Division, plied their way through the endless volume of space that encompassed just this solar system.

_Things always seemed so close and reachable to us. Humph, especially when viewed through a truncated navigational view of humanity's star system,_ thought a tired Zexen pilot. The true situation though, the reality of the distances involved maddening. How was anyone supposed to find something in these vast distances is the thought that would intrude on the mind of a man traveling them. But this fleet was on a hunt, and they would not stop until they either found their prey or...they were lost to these vast reaches themselves. It was a matter of honor now for this Taskforce fleet. _And a matter of stubbornness really_, thought the Pilot. He had to admit, a lot of stubbornness was prevalent in the Zexen Loyal Militaire. _Arrogance too, maybe even worse things….. _

The pilot shook his head again angrily, rubbing his temples from the agitation. The hum of the quicklift had his mind wandering. Truthfully, everything on this tour of duty had his mind wandering these days.

The lift stopped its "ascent" and opened its doors to the main bridge of the _Xenos_. This ship was the Flagship of the 08th TFF. It was one of the newer Lords-type Miranda's. Even though the Miranda was the work horse of the Zexen Loyal Militaire, the Lord signature line was a different breed. The Lord designation marked the ship as a command version of the Zexen's warship. It was twice as large as a regular Miranda class ship, with heavier armor, twice the weaponry, and almost three times the mobile suit capacity.

The wary Zexen soldier looked out of the viewport on the Xenos' bridge and was greeted with the endless darkness of space yet again. He closed his eyes at the sight of it. Even he was growing extremely wary. _Of this endless darkness... _

The pilot chided himself at his weak thoughts, even though he understood the reasons behind them. He was proud of being a spacefarer, of being a mobile suit pilot, but even a man as proud as he had to admit that the sea of space could be disturbing at times. _Perhaps even daunting_… Especially without any real landmarks or points of reference. At times it seemed like the Fleet had not really moved at all. _And it had been months of this._ But this is what it took to hunt the fleeing rats of the Federation. If it was for his homeland then so be it. He smiled admitting to the partial self-deception of his own thoughts.

The pilot was Commander Keiv Sheron and he was member of this "esteemed" taskforce, the 08th Taskforce fleet of the Zexen Special Security Division. One of the first Fleets formed of this new Division.

The Special Security Division was something of a new concept for the Zexen. For too long, the Zexen seemed like they would always be battling just for their survival. But now, after the last few months, even the common soldier could see that they held an edge in the war. Tenuous though it was to Keiv's thinking. Still, with that upper hand the Zexen realized the need to cut down the rogue pieces out in the field, among other things. Thus the formation of the SSD. A Military Division dedicated to counter insurgency, but also tasked with tracking rouge militia forces, and hunting far flung Federation forces that could become a threat to Zexen's goals. The SSD Fleet division was also the Special Security bureau's personal fleet as well. Though the name was sort of misleading, most of these soldiers were hunters. Blood Hound units, terror troops, the storm troopers of the ZLM.

Only the most hardcore and utterly loyal of the Zexen's warriors were chosen to fill the early positions. And this might not have been the best idea Keiv often thought. Some people were just not suited to this type of work. Sure they were some of the Zexen's best soldiers from the frontlines, Zexen patriots is what they were called in the media, true followers of the "Zexen way" or so it was said. Mad dog zealots is what Keiv Sheron secretly thought many of them were.

Keiv Sheron now realized that some of the Zexen exhibited a dangerously fanatical approach to the war. Followers of the Zexen's evolutionary beliefs. But Keiv also realized he was a man of the faith as well. How could he not be? Keiv Sheron had viewed "The Light of Evolution". The power of a new-human that could perhaps awaken in all. Surely it was a miracle, a powerful and concrete phenomena… it changed you. That's when he knew he would fight for the Zexen and understood how many others could be caught up in things. But Sheron was no fool. He had his doubts about the way the war was prosecuted and how some of the Zexen got so caught up in things as they followed their beliefs. He also knew even more Zexen soldiers used "the cause" to their own end. A mask to hide their true agendas and tendencies.

Thankfully some of the leaders in High Command knew full well that letting your faith cloud your thoughts was a sure way to lose a war. That is why a few people like Keiv Sheron were placed in certain positions, or at least that was what Keiv had managed to figure out. He was here to temper the flame somewhat.To make sure that rational minds were not drowned out by the overzealousness of certain Field Officers and their soldiers. Obviously High Command had some of the same fears as he. It would definitely be a challenge though. W_ith the officers in command of this fleet..._

---

Keiv Sheron sighed as he made his way over to the upper section of the Xenos' bridge. The Command Pylon for the main officers. The unusual nervous hush of the Bridge halted him for a second, sending a chill down his spine. Lord Commander Malakai was obviously in another mood again...

"Ah Sheron. Just who I wanted to see. I have fortuitous news." said Lord Commander Malakai. A crazed look in the Leader's eye. Sheron hated and feared that look.

Malakai sat up on his command chair, which was suspended from the floor by a large support appendage, which also made it mobile. Kiev knew Malakai considered it his throne of sorts. He liked to hover high over those in his audience, like many drunk off of their own power.

Malakai was flanked by his two usual shadows, his personal bodyguards. Kiev considered them shadows for their ability to so repel unwanted attention.

Malakai leaned forward casting his gaze on Sheron. Keiv was acutely aware now of how bad the Lord Commander's appearance had gotten. The man appeared to be growing more wild as the weeks of this mission went by. This duty obviously did not suit him. Being one of Lord Captain Camion's favorites, Malakai craved action and battle, of this Keiv Sheron was totally sure. Though prestigious, this tour of duty had become quite taxing, a waste of time to some, and just generally frustrating. For a junkie like Malakai it could be considered torture. And Keiv held back a wicked grin at that thought.

Malakai's appearance had slipped, his crazy blue hair unkempt, his eyelids sallow, he was unshaven. Of course no one would say that to the Templar in charge of this fleet.

Sheron saluted crisply. In contrast to Malakai, he prided himself on keeping a well trimmed appearance, even in the atrophy this long trip had put on the crew and regulations. His dark hair was still cleanly cut and possessed a healthy sheen. The darker features of his Israeli heritage gave him the look of Arabic royalty. Sheron detected the aura of fear permeating the bridge as he looked at Malakai and the uneasy sympathetic glances he received from a few bridge officers. Strangely, Sheron never felt for his safety, he barely tolerated Malakai but for some reason Malakai obviously favored him. "Lord Commander?" Sheron answered, a bit eager to get today's problem over with.

"Don't look at me like that my dear Sheron. I truly have good news this time," Malakai responded, actually managing to read Sheron's mood. _Malakai could obviously be perceptive if he so chose, _Sheron thought with a small hint of mirth.

"It would seem that we have been blessed Kiev. My lovely Trackers have picked up the trail once more." Kiev Sheron became unnerved at the mention of the "Trackers". He hadn't seen the system himself but he had heard stories. It was what made this hunt even feasible in the first place. Malakai smiled seeing the look on his face. "I assure you this is not a false lead."

Kiev nodded grimly, though he could not help but feel a bit of happiness descent on him. This was definitely good news. If things went well they could end their foes existence, accomplish the mission parameters, and more importantly…end this grueling detail. "Sir what is our possible ETI," Keiv asked tentatively.

"In as soon as three days, the Agara even more so" Malakai proclaimed. "We finally caught the infidels! And soon we will put them to the blade!" Malakai said gleefully in his cackle like voice. The officers around him sounded their approval as well. "Look how far we have come Sheron. All of this foolishness, and to think just for a measly Refugee Column and a special Federation vessel. At the least it will be satisfying destroying them."

Keiv nodded at Malakai's casual dismissal of the complexity and value of their orders. His disgust for man grew daily.

"Commander I want your pilots prepared. We will not disgrace ourselves in the Lord Captain's eyes. I will tend to this sub-par crew of mine in the mean time."

_As if you couldn't be more disgraceful_, thought Sheron, as he noticed the nervousness of the ship operators and even the Command officers. Malakai didn't know the meaning of the word morale. Malakai's dictator-like leadership style would definitely have to be reported somehow. But he was a Templar, and worse one of Lord Camion's flock, that complicated things. But perhaps it was best to try, to risk his own career, and perhaps even his safety… Surely these other loyal Zexen warriors deserved better. There was nothing he could do about it now though, so he'd best focus on having his pilots ready for the coming battle.

-------------------------------------------------

Looking out of the forward viewport the "Commander" of the _Radiant_ could only see was two things. One was the endless darkness of the universe interspersed with the beautiful and lonely Stars that called it home.

The other sight was the convoy of course. A trail of battered ships huddled together for protection in the void between planets. One was a badly damaged warship, but mostly the ships were transports of varying class. Their beacon lights barely flashing in an effort to minimize their profile. Those convoy ships were all his responsibility now.

"Sir, do you have a minute?" asked the Executive Officer of the ship as he approached.

"Well how does it look, Mr. Taner?" asked the incredibly wary Brevet Commander. Maxwell Ephram was the "new" Commander of the _Radiant._ A battered Ra Cailum class vessel. Like the ship, Maxwell Ephram had seen far better days. Red crossed his stressed eyes. His short cut blonde hair was glossy with his constant nervous sweat. Stubble had begun to creep onto his face for the day. He felt dead on his feet, but that was a secret concern really. He would not dare tell anyone how he really felt. Ephram knew that the contents of Taner's report would not be any help to his health either.

"It looks like my original estimate was correct Sir. I am sorry to report," said the ships Executive Officer, Peter Taner. He was the newly promoted Lieutenant Commander of the ship. He was a career non-commissioned naval man, with a grim set face that would fool people into thinking him a shifty criminal. But Ephram knew he was really a genial soul, though a soul strained by their appointed task. Like Ephram, Taner did not have that much experience in actual command. In fact, many of the crew running the Radiant were painfully inexperienced.

Necessity and tragedy had dictated this sad state of affairs.

"Our supplies are tapped sir. We'll be out of food within a few weeks at current rations. And fuel is coming close to a critical level, without draining our designated MS reserves of course."

"The fuel is that bad really?" Ephram whispered to Taner, in confidence. Taner could hear the ever present worry in Ephram's voice grow a little bit worse. "Even with us minimizing course correction and even some of the necessary burns..."

"Well before the Capt...I mean before the old Captain passed away the Radiant ran into its fair share of trouble. Before you had the chance to join us and of course after…." Commander Ephram nodded. The Radiant had indeed been a hard pressed ship far before Ephram's appointment to it. In fact, Ephram barely had time to get onboard the Radiant before it fell into trouble once again. Leading to the tumult of events that had him appointed acting CO of the ship and its convoy fleet.

"I understand Taner." Ephram said, looking at Taner from the peripheral. "Those earlier raids have come back to haunt us as well."

"That's not all. I have more bad news. But perhaps over here sir," he said indicating a far off corner of the Ships bridge. Ephram visibly braced himself for this bit of news. "The other thing sir... It seems that our convoy has picked up a tail...again." said Taner, a tiny bit of anxiety creeping into his usually controlled voice.

"How are they fething tracking us? In all this vastness..." Ephram said, waving his arm wide to emphasize, though is voice was low. Even with advanced scanning equipment the shear volume of space should have played to their advantage. "Damnit," he said quietly, slamming his fist into a nearby bulkhead. A crewman let out a nervous yelp, surprised by the outburst. Ephram noticed that a few of the bridge officers were now eyeing him with what they thought was subtlety. Fear played across their faces.

Ephram cringed inwardly. _Morale Ephram morale._, he silently berated himself.

Ephram was trying his hardest to get used to this job. Being the one everyone looked to for leadership was a strain he never imagined he would have to bare. The stress of it all was affecting him drastically but Ephram didn't dare let anyone see the worst of his despair. Did not let them see that he was always afraid. Every part of the waking day.

_Maybe I should step down, _Ephram thought, as he did everyday. ..._god Taners you should have been in charge_. _You have more experience than me.._. But even as he contemplated those dark thoughts he knew that he couldn't do it. The effect on the people of the convoy was one reason. How would it look if he stepped down, which would be comparable to saying he didn't think they had much hope. It might destroy what little hope everyone had left, through some horrid joke they all looked to him, and his fear eclipsed theirs. Or so he thought.

How Ephram came to be in this situation felt more and more unreal as the weeks went by. That so much change could happen in his life in such a short time… It boggled his mind.

Ephram, just a few months earlier, was a junior bridge officer on the Eisen. A ship which was stationed near the torrent that was the Channelside Massacre. The Eisen, like many other ships, was orphaned. Cut of from Federation command in the aftermath of that monster of all battles. It survived the fighting but a few weeks later the Eisen was destroyed in a running fight with a Zexen Cruiser. The Eisen had been protecting a few ships filled with noncombatants, personnel that had escaped from the Side 4 carnage. The Eisen had been trying, in vain, to get back to Federation controlled space but found themselves blocked at every turn, constantly hounded, until they finally fell to Zexen attacks. The Radiant itself had escaped Channelside with some luck; the ship had been given a special escort mission to a far flung Federation outpost sometime after that. Luckily the Radiant and its own convoy of ships were in the area to save the Eisen survivors. Upon meeting, the ships formed into a larger convoy with the Radiant fleet fending off the Eisen's killers. They tried to take the noncom survivors back to safety but were hounded every step of the way just like the Eisen. The window of opportunity to get the survivors to safety had closed and they found themselves in Zexen controlled space. The Captain, fearing the skirmishes of trying to brave Zexen space, thought it best to bring the convoy with them to the distant Hermes depot in Mercury space, its original destination.

The old Captain was later killed in a Zexen surprise attack on the convoy fleet as they made there way. Many of the officers in the Convoy were killed in the attack. In a chain of events that still surprised Ephram he had taken charge when the bridge was hit. Being one of the few on the combat bridge he was one of the only ones left in a position to take charge at the time. Though he was scared out his mind somehow he managed to keep things together. _We even sunk the ambushers. _To this day Ephram could not recall were he had summoned the skills he displayed that day. He thought his grasp of such things dormant within him, an old dream deferred. Book smarts he hadn't believed he would use in practical setting. Ephram of course had received praise for his "heroism." Afterwards he was one of the few surviving officers, as the other escorts ships were either destroyed or badly damaged themselves. Only he and a few others had knowledge of the old Captain's intended destination so the other officers saw fit to put him in charge. If they only knew...he wasn't a hero. _Just in the wrong place at the right time. Or wrong time… _

The other reason he feared to step down was Taners. Peter Taners did have more experience than him in the military but Taners was enlisted and not trained for this role, nor was he particularly experienced in being a command officer. Besides as harried as he was Ephram could not rest the burden of the convoy on his friend's shoulders. "Ephram you're not alone you know." Taner whispered sympathetically. "This is not your fault, the Zexen seem to have their ways. The stress it is getting to all of us." Taners flashed a small slight smile as he placed a comforting hand on Ephram's shoulder "And don't think you can't vent either, just maybe not front of the crew?"

Ephram brushed away his hand gently, recognizing Taners veiled misplaced humor. "No I understand. ...Its nothing." He closed his eyes for a second thinking. A struggle going on within him that no one could know about. "Ok Taner put us on alert...quietly. Get the Mobile Suit Commander on the line. And tell him to get his units ready. Don't let them know that we have… "

"Don't worry I copy your thinking," Taner nodded in agreement, understanding.

"I have mind to throw up a minofsky screen." Ephram said, hand resting on his chin. "But..."

"The area of our jamming would just define our position more closely when compared to the backdrop of this much space. I follow you sir."

"Exactly Taner...", Ephram nodded, a small smile of respect on his face. Surely Taner had a quick and sound mind. Why he hadn't progressed up the Federation Ranks Ephram did not know.

"We are almost there... we just have to hold for a little longer. That's the good news Taner." Even saying the words aloud relieved some of the Captain's stress. "I pray the former Captain was right...though. We are surely bringing trouble to that depot."

"To late to doubt him now Sir," Taners said. Ephram gave a grim nod of agreement, though he was truly sad to be a herald of trouble.

---------------------------------------

The mobile suit bay of the Radiant was surprisingly alive. Personnel floated back and forth across its length carrying supplies, tools, and diagnostic devices. The mechanics and technicians calmly and casually swarmed over the 12 Mobile Suits crammed into the Radiant's mobile suit bay. Running tests, replacing and optimizing parts, checking weapon barrels, performing general maintenance. Doing the things that a Mobile Suit's mechanics would do during war time. But they did so at a leisurely pace, as if at a nice calm day in the park. Idly chatting away, almost just hanging out really, even while getting their job done. The hum and drill of machinery reverberating across the bay, the clank of hand tools adding to the mix, the shouting of commands. This weird symphony was quite calming to the Lieutenant Commander in charge of the Radiant's Mobile Suit forces.

_The mechanics, it seems, can at least find some enjoyment at a time like this. That's some what reassuring._

Teska Villiers sat back from his own work and took it all in. He found that these sounds were surprisingly soothing and reassuring. It seemed almost _normal._ They could not escape their situation, they knew that. Trapped on a ship lost in the solar system. The reality of it was always there, partially hidden on the mechanics faces, but by carrying on like this was their way of fighting the stress. That hollowness that settled on everyone in the crew from time to time.

Teska fought that feeling himself by hanging out here. And by seeing if he could help out. It made things feel like they were in another time. A nice duty patrol, a trip from the moon to side 7 and back. Back before the war began, before the madness and death. The deaths of strangers and friends alike_. Before the colony fell...and before she fell in battle. _Teska nodded away the momentary flair of grief that blossomed in him. Teska was doing better these days, it didn't bring about the depressive mood that struck him as it did early on. It would come whenever he thought of his old CO, Lieutenant Commander Irene Hamlin and his other comrades. Their demises had hit Teska hard; they were a family to him. He didn't do better because he sought to forget them though. How could he not think of Hamlin, he saw her Mobile Suit daily and Teska lay resting upon it at this very moment. He tried to work on it whenever he could. It was an old comrade now, a last gift and mission from Hamlin. He liked to think of it that way.

That's how he fought the pain at first, by throwing himself into battle after battle. Helping to fight off attack after attack on the Radiant. From the rout at Channelside, to the Radiant's reassignment, to the frantic escape out to the far Hermes Depot. But it was the vast loneliness out here, where a month would pass without anything to do but think, that he had been forced to cope. He learned to face that pain. It was a continuing struggle to be sure, but one he was now used to. He had grown used to the loss and death in the last months. _Still can't tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing, L.C..._ _Would you be surprised at how I've changed?_

"L.C.!" a friendly voice screamed at Teska.

Teska looked down from where he sat on the J-Rock's shoulder as he heard someone scuttle up the suit. It was Chen Lu, one of the surviving members of his squad. _A little bit to be thankful for at least, _Teska thought fondly Close by was a young female soldier, a Military Police soldier name Josaline. She was Chen Lu's usual running partner, and they had become rather close these days.

Teska looked at them quizzically, greeting them with his trademark raised eyebrow. "What are you two skulking about?" he said heavily scrutinizing them. "Or should it be what are you not up to?"

"Well now L.C., we are on a mission most dangerous. " said Chen Lu, grinning heavily. His voice though sounded conspiratory. "Some would say...suicidal",

"And you want to get my...blessings." Teska said in a dubious voice. He looked over Chen Lu, his lithe pilot, and the wiry tall blond that was Josaline. On odd duo to be sure, but one that could add up to mountains of mischief. They surprised today Teska though.

"No, we came to pry you away from this MS bay." said Josaline, in that strong voice of hers. She had a sort of southern drawl of her words, which Chen Lu seemed to love so. "At least if you would let us that is, Sir," she added hastily, yet smiling.

"Yeah. You been cooped up too much L.C. the men are getting worried." Chen Lu said. "I have not seen you away from this place or your room for more than three days. Uh... the rest of the pilots were getting worried."

Teska nodded realizing the truth of their concerns. It just hadn't occurred to him. Hanging here, fixing Mobile Suits was sort of therapeutic to him, a passion. _But have I really been neglecting my duties?_, he wondered. There was so much to keep track of since he was placed in charge of the Radiant's Mobile Suit pilots. All he used to do was fix stuff and show up for battle when Hamlin was in charge. Teska felt a silly smile rise to his face as he thought of his folly. It was another big change.

"Don't fret too much, Teska. We know how you get sometimes. Especially with no word of the Zexen following us these last weeks we tend to zone out" Chen Lu said, but hastily caught himself. "Look I just came here to..."

"Challenge you to a round in the simulators," Josaline interrupted. Her smile was tentative, inviting.

"Oh, are you calling me out Josaline?" Teska said, throwing her a raised eyebrow. Obviously playing along. _The young MP thinks she is a good pilot now, _he thought. Intrigued he nodded to her. She was actually quite decent in a simulated Mobile Suit.

"So you're interested?" Chen Lu chimed in happily, oddly relieved. "Come on L.C.? You know you want to feast on a mouthful of my amazing skills," he said, flexing his lean arms. "I'll even let you be the Federation this time."

"Yeah sure, let's do this. But give me an hour or two to finish up here." Teska said, but paused midway through picking up his tools. Teska considered it for a moment then added. "Hey never mind I'll come with you now. I could use the practice. Actually we all could..." and Teska drifted off at that, a strange look appearing on his face. "I've been too lax on you guys this week," Teska considered. He had a look about him that Chen was quite familiar with. It meant…. "We need to step up our training regimen on the Pilots. Yeah that's what I'll do..." Teska said, talking to himself aloud. "Thanks Chen Lu, I'll tell the team."

"Ah feth." Chen Lu mumbled, wondering if perhaps he was wrong in snapping Lieutenant Commander Villers out of his isolation. Josaline was laughing out loud behind him.

Getting up from his spot Teska closed down the section of the J-Rock he was working on then moved to join them. "So what do you have in mind?" Teska asked absently as he finished packing up.

"Well I think we should partake in some One Year War hi-jinx obviously." A raised eyebrow caused him to add a hasty _"Please_" to the end of it.

"You really are one of those One Year War buffs aren't you." Teska asked Chen Lu.

"Hey it was a simpler time back then ...technologically anyway." Chen Lu said, trying to sound not so obsessive. He shrugged at the effort and gave up. "I love old school," Chen admitted aloud. "Look I was thinking of trying the MacGuffin Scenario, or maybe Shindler's Gamble."

"I was thinking maybe we could try "The Carcass" again." Teska said grinning smugly.

"Ah what is it with you and hiding inside stuff Sir?" Josaline asked. Teska smiled at her meekly and shrugged. "I was thinking maybe the South Asia campaigns. It'd be nice to see earth again. If only virtually," she added as her suggestion.

They all grew a little silent from the admission. They were thinking the same thought at that moment. It would be good to see any part of the Earth Sphere again. Especially the Earth itself, all three of the gathered soldiers being earthborn.

---------------------------------------

"Captain!" yelled one of the bridge officers to get Ephram's attention. She did not seem well Ephram noticed. "I think you should see this!"

Captain Ephram and Commander Taners rushed over to view her data. They simultaneously looked at each other in dread. It was what he had feared, just as in one of his reoccurring nightmares. Ephram could only close his eyes and think, and pray. It wouldn't be the doom he was dreading but it could be the start of a downward spiral of disaster. _No. _He would not let himself sink in despair just yet. If they held on a bit more, he hoped... They where close, so close, perhaps they could make it yet.

"Taners, place the convoy on active alert immediately! We have incoming!" Ephram said aloud, allowing the Bridge to hear him. The Bridge scrambled to get ready for action. Alarms filled the ship.

"Looks like we will have need of that minofsky spread anyway" Ephram said, and he was surprised at how calm his voice sounded. Though his nerves still shivered with fear. Perhaps a solidification of his terror removed the unknown larger part of it. Maybe now he had something concrete to focus his dread upon. Maybe he found a way to escape his other self by burying it under a façade, the façade of a Captain. "Get the mobile suit bay on the Comm., and tell them to prepare for launch immediately. See if Lieutenant Commander Teska is down there we need to brief him."

On he and Taners went barking what ever orders they could think off. Trying to get their ships ready for a hostile and incoming force.

"They found us," Captain Ephram said to himself silently. His voice still calm but he noticed his hand wouldn't stop shaking.

---------------------------------------

The three made their way towards the end of the massive Mobile Suit bay. As they passed, Teska noticed the mechanic crew flying in the other direction. He also heard a general commotion brewing. He had the presence of mind to grab the nearest technician and ask him what was up. "Hey soldier what is going on?"

"A Fight sir!" The techie said, seemingly eager to check out the spectacle himself.

"Ah Gakk it." Teska yelled as he hurried to the scene. Arriving at the brawl taking place he barreled his way through the crowd of on lookers. He let out a deep sigh as he spied the participants of this fight further in the gathering.

One man lay unconscious on the ground at Teska's feet. The mechanics huddled around them in a circle were watching the melee and shouting excitedly. Two women in the center were grappling and tearing at each other. And both obviously knew how to fight. One of the women had a mess of orange-red hair. Upon noticing it Teska had immediately cursed to himself, but he was now trying to fight his way to the two brawlers.

_It would be her wouldn't it?_ Teska sighed again. The red head was Atal Ruebens, one of his mobile suit pilots and she was trouble. _The embodiment of it, he thought angrily.._

Mobile suit pilot Atal Reubens hammered her opponent, one of the mechanics, with a fierce jab. The mechanic fell out and Reubens caught her by the collar. Holding her opponent up, and letting out an indulgent roar of victory, Reubens cocked her other arm. Teska knew she was about to take things to a whole other level by raining blows on her unconscious opponent. Teska feared he might not get through in time.

But over the crowd vaulted Josaline with feline grace, clearing the onlookers easily in the low-gravity. She pivoted on her left heel, sending out a strong round house that sent Ruebens flying backwards. The unconscious mechanic, falling to the ground, was caught by Josaline on her return spin. Two mechanics caught and held Reubens relatively steady, which was obviously a more difficult a job than they thought. Reuben's size tended to mislead others as she had a wild strength to her.

"Move please." Teska said strongly, diverting people out of his way. Here was the part of being Lieutenant Commander he hated. Disciplining people under his command. Teska really didn't like confrontation that much, it was something that he rarely admitted, but accepted as part of being an officer. Sure it was one thing to fight for your life, heck even fight one to ten odds. But dealing with people in this way was so vastly different to him. How Hamlin had dealt with this type of foolishness he did not know. He never thought to ask her...

Reubens was already standing grinning, a wild look in her eye like she might even attack him next. This caused a flare of anger in Teska. He barely withheld himself from acting on it… barely. Reubens fed off of that type of reaction and he intended to deny her that.

"It took three of you stupid Earthnoids to take me, did it! Who wants to try for more?" she snarled, fishing for any hook to get a rise out of her captures. It was true the ship was mostly comprised of Earthnoids. Most of the people on the ship were cadets as well, caught up in the fall out from the Zexen offensive. Teska was an Earthnoid himself, though he had been in space since he was little. Teska knew he had to end this fast.

Teska griped Reubens collar, picking her off the ground incredibly fast even for the no gravity. Which surprised some in the crowd. His easy going personality rarely drew attention to his height and strength. "I don't know what excuse you have this time Ruebens! But I am done with dealing with your messes." He said, putting venom into his voice. Or he hoped he did.

"Come on Lieutenant." Reubens said, purposely leaving off the Commander part of his rank. The pure insubordination shocked some but Teska knew when he looked in her eyes that she didn't care. Or more likely… enjoyed it. She wanted a fight. From anyone. It was that lust he had seen a few times before. Particularly in unstable pilots and soldiers. "What are you going to do Teska; they were in my way... Uppity Earthers always causing trouble for everyone" she said with contempt.

Teska just shook his head. "Ms. Bush take her to the brig now," he said beckoning Josaline. "I'll deal with her after I talk with the Captain about this. That was your last one Reubens."

Josaline took Reubens easily from the two mechanics holding Ruebens despite the other woman's struggles. This incident just displayed the level of tension existing right below the surface. The harried nature of their journey coinciding with the anger over the War. Many thought the Earth Government wrong for starting the conflict and just general warmongering. But anyone with sense could see that the Zexen build up was trouble, though there might have been a better solution Teska admitted. With battles happening constantly, between Earth and the colonies or the colonies and each other, many didn't notice the Rift that still existed between the Earth and Space Humans. Even in on a military vessel.

Teska did need his pilots, every single one. Reubens was one of the best on this ship, it kept her on active roster even before Teska took over, when she was probably long over due for discipline or washing out. But her volatile nature was now too dangerous with her not having an enemy to fight in space so she could focus on finding other enemies. Also Teska knew that she had a following of likewise minded pilots and noncoms that hung around her. And to his dismay her behavior was rubbing off on them. He finally needed to end this despite the consequences.

Just as Josaline was manhandling Reubens and about to leave thought alarms sounded off loudly in the mobile suit bay. The flashing lights and sounds settled a hard mood on all standing around Teska.

All hell broke loose.

---------------------------------------

"Lord Commander Malakai!" the Xenos' communications officer cried. "We have word from the Agara."

Lord Commander Malakai let out a disinterested sigh and waved the officer to proceed. "Go on, Mathers. What is it now?"

"Sir, Knight Commander Hemphlage of the Agara has informed us that he has a visual on the Federation Convoy! He is moving to engage now sir!"

"That flaming bastard," Malakai yelled, jumping out of his seat. "Trying to steal the glory! Standing orders were to wait for the rest of the Fleet Discreetly!" Malakai feared that the sight of the enemy might blind his fellows. He had few worries about the safety of the Agara. Or its under strength battle forces engaging the convoy. Even now his elitism ignoring the possibility that mundane human forces could beat one of the "Enlightened". His concern was Hemphlage using this opportunity to usurp glory and power.

"Bring us up on Alert." Malakai said shouting. "Mathers get their coordinates and contact the rest of the fleet. We must rush to help our forces engage them."

"Yes sir. From the burst I received. It appears Sir Hemphlage is preparing to lead his Mobile forces against the convoy him himself."

Malakai raged at the thought of that showboating braggart._ Bastard. _"Call up Sheron. Tell him to get his forces ready."

"And someone get me a damned ETA."

--------------------------------------- 

The chill dark of the void greeted Teska's eyes as his J-Rock moved to launch position. He griped the controls reassuringly, trusting that the J-Rock would carry him through another sortie. Hamlin's last parting gift, her always trusted RGZ-91J(R).

Around the end of the Zanscare conflict the Federation again had to learn a hard lesson. The liability of what it meant to fall behind the curve in mobile suit technology. Since then the Federation began to beef up its mobile forces. Which was deemed prudent with the increase in space based dissent and splinter groups. This resulted in many new variants and designs. One such project led to the resurrection and resizing of the old ReGz design. The 91J(R) was one of the earlier prototypes runs; it was brought back to serve primarily as a high performance Officer unit. Teska didn't know exactly when the 91J(R) received its nickname, but he did remember Lieutenant Commander Hamlin saying that the "J" rocked more than once.

Teska looked left, and a slight smile fought to jump to his face as he saw Chen Lu's Mobile Suit ready to follow on the far left Launch Catapult. Such a good person beside him. His small smile disappeared immediately when he remembered that Reubens was right behind him. The irony of this did not go unnoticed to Teska.

A message flashed on the J-Rocks display and Teska immediately accepted the communication.

"Lieutenant Commander. This is Captain Ephram," came the familiarly voice of his commanding officer. Teska could hear the stress in the man's voice that mirrored his own. Teska was aware of the man's situation and certainly did not envy him. The man had doubts about himself too that Teska could caught because of his own sympathetic experiences.. But Teska wondered if Ephram realized how competent he actually could be. "I read you sir," Teska replied. "Situation? Any updates since the last?"

"I'll make this fast. The situation is not good. Though it is not the doomsday scenario we were dreading. Our long range sensors have identified a Miranda class Cruiser and a force of mobile suits. They are moving to engage us as we speak. ETA 3 minutes." Teska glanced at the display, filing away their location, numbers, speed, and vector.

"How in the world were we found sir?" Teska asked, not really expecting an answer.

"We don't know." Ephram sighed.

"Still this doesn't make sense. Why such a small force?"

"Perhaps a delay tactic so the rest of the Hunters can catch up, I am unsure."

"Templars?" Teska asked, giving voice to their fears. _Newtype's could make things nasty. _

Despite the convoy having more Mobile Suits than the attacking force there was still a danger present. _Newtypes._ It had become a fear on the mind of all Federation pilots ever since the battles of the Luna Line. That was when the Templar truly displayed their might. People liked to convince themselves that the Zexen evolution rhetoric was just propaganda, but Federation soldiers had come to realize that more and more Newtypes were popping up in their forces.

"Well, our key to this battle is keeping them away from us and the convoy." Ephram said trying to draw away from that line of thinking.

And Teska was inclined to let him. "I copy that Sir. Their ship may be trouble too, if it can close range."

"Lieutenant Commander," chimed in one of the Bridge Operators. "You are a go for launch at any time."

"I won't keep you, Lieutenant Commander. Do what you can for us," Captain Ephram said, his voice haggard but appreciative. "We will provide you with all do support."

"Thank you sir. We will do our best" Teska comforted, letting out a mental sigh all the same. "This is Teska Villers launching! All MS forces on me!"

With that, the J-Rock sped away from the Radiant. Teska noticed the Captain had shot off a few of the Radiant's few remaining dummies. Light illuminated the space around Teska as the Radiant and the enemy traded long distance fire. The Radiant was loosing a barrage of fire aimed at the approaching mobile suits. Meanwhile the enemy ship lanced long range shots at the Radiant, trying to find its range. Neither was likely to be particularly effective at taking out their targets, but the shots were more for psychological effect than practicality.

Teska looked back to see that Chen was right on him guarding his tail. Teska breathed a breathe of relief knowing that Chen would be by his side to help him. _Other than Reubens, Cole, and maybe Dasha, the rest of my pilots are effectively inexperienced. Is this feeling… is this how it always felt L.C.? _

---------------------------------------

The Zexen mobile suits were fast approaching the herd of Federation ships. A Ra Cailum class ship began to interdict itself between the approaching Zexen's. Like a Sheppard shielding its flock from approaching predators. Those among the Zexen force would appreciate the analogy. The nine mobile suits of the Zexen braved the fire coming from the Radiant and sped into engagement range like shooting stars. The withering torrent of energy rattling them but did not detering them. Their target was in sight and their battle lust was on.

The Radiant's fire shifted away from the approaching Zexen suits to the _Agara_, the signal that the Federation mobile suits would be too close to risk barrage fire. True enough the mobile suit vanguard from the Federation began to fire their energy weapons. A hail of leading shots crossed between the two parties, then the two groups merged into a confusing swarm. A tango of evasion, attack, and jockeying for advantageous position.

Knight Commander Hemphlage found that he could not keep a predatory smile off of his face as the enemy was met. This was what he craved, had been waiting for these long weeks. The hunt was on, and battle had been joined!

Hemphlage dodged through the pitiful attacks the Federation mobile suits threw at him, all the while gazing longingly at the Federation fleet. He so wanted to rush into that cluster of fat sows, reaping death upon them. There was always something arousing about raiding an enemy fleet group, a secret fetish all his own. All he had to do was weed through the pests annoying him now.

A familiar sensation greeted Hemphlage, an impression of someone to his rear. To the arrogant Hemphlage, the attackers attempt to surprise him was an insult. _Laughable,_ he thought, and dodged the sneak attack easily.

Deterred his prey began to fly into a series of evasive maneuvers, but they were utterly mediocre to Hemphlage. He brought his Rahja into melee range easily, and like a person swatting away an annoying fly, dispatched the mobile suit with a flash from his beam naginata. These mobile suits did not seem to be a challenge he realized.

Hemphlage brought his Rahja back into the battle, eyeing the maneuvers of the enemy and his men. Hemphlage concluded then that he was dealing with vastly inexperienced combatants. A few would no doubt pose problems. This was illustrated definitively when one of his two Masads went up in a ball of fire. The offending suit, which Hemphlage decided was an Officer's Unit, because of its atypical design, sped back into the spiral of dueling mobile suits.

Hemphlage noticed then that the enemy had managed to keep his forces out of range of the convoy fleet. _Amusing_, Hemphlage thought as he traded fire with a fast moving Federation mobile suit, _this is becoming interesting. _Alarms flashed in Hemphlage's field of vision, displayed by his image-link implant. More mobile suits had launched from the convoy and were soon to join in the battle. This annoyed him more than worried him. Even though battle had just been joined Hemphlage thought things were taking too long. The Ra Cailum class had effectively shielded the convoy from any of the Agara's aggression. And worst the mobile suits were keeping him from his raid. He could see the convoy ships slowly falling out of range of the battle. Even being out numbered two to one he had no worries though. Templar egotism blinding him to the odds of facing mundane pilots. He laughed at the thought even.

At the battle of the Luna Line Hemphlage and his brethren had faced double those odds. _Even triple at times. _That was when he had developed his Capital ship hunting fixation. Blazing a trail though storms of anti-ms barrage fire and putting those ships down despite it. He had raved at the delight flushing through him as he sunk Federation ships laden with foolish earthborn parasites. _Perhaps we should take this battle to their door step now..._, he thought but nixed the idea. More mobile suits were boiling out of the convoy itself. He hadn't counted on that and cursed himself for letting his desire cloud his mind.

Of course they would carry extra suits with the convoy, not just on the Ra Cailum class his team had focused on. With a thought, he sent an order to his minions over the communications link. To hold at the dog fight and bring the battle closer to the Ra Cailum class. If they couldn't deal with that ship in a few minutes he'd have to pull his remaining suits back. _In Retreat, _he fumed. The minofsky particles made it unlikely that they got the total gist of his message. To make sure Hemphlage initiated the Rahja's beamflag emitter and flashed the message in clipped Zexen code sign. With a growl of frustration Knight Commander Hemphlage moved to engage to emphasize his orders.

--------------------------------------

_All told, things are not going as badly as we feared_, Teska thought, as he fled the explosion of the pesky Masad that had been bullying some of his rookies. So far his team had met the Zexen advance and stalled their assault. Despite his grimness he was particularly proud of his team for bearing the brunt of a Zexen blitz. Even more so because a Newtype was involved in the fight. He could tell it was a Templar by the ease in which it fought his team. It displayed no fear in engaging twice its number, and had callously dispatched one of his pilots. A ball of light caught Teska's eye and he knew it had taken another of his pilots. A beam flag sprouted from the Rahja's back. Zexen flash code, only a Templar would be so brazen as to make himself a target. Still it could have been worse. It was only a Rahja, an enhanced Rahja sure but only a Rahja.

Nightmare images of Fin-Funnels decimating his pilots flashed through Teska's mind. He'd faced Newtypes multiple times, much more than he was comfortable with. And back then Irene Hamlin was in charge. The experiences had left him more scared than he cared to admit. Even so, he was doing ok so far, so was the Radiant, and thankfully so were his pilots. The convoy was screened. And…._the Zexen units patterns have shifted, _he noticed_ Probably ready to withdraw. _The Zexen began to focus on the Radiant more heavily. Probably trying to do as much damage as they could before they pulled back.

Teska risked a glance behind him. The Panoramic cockpit had highlighted in blue the approach of mobile suits rushing to aid his forces. _Good we may just fend this one off without too much damage. _Even so Teska couldn't help but admit he had a little fear in him, and it wasn't because of the Newtype. Something wasn't right. No one would engage the convoy with this little force unless they thought backup was coming. _Could it be a delay action?_

Teska had no time to ponder this further as the Newtype Rahja turned its attention to him, even as Teska interposed the J-Rock between the Radiant and a Ramza's incoming beam fire. The J-Rock's thrust sent a heavy vibration through him as he began to engage this intense an opponent.

---------------------------------------

Another explosion flashed on the combat bridge view screen, and a horrid tremble shook the ship. Surprisingly only one or two officers had yelled at the strike. Everyone was too busy to really pay attention to their fear. They did flinch at the strikes but determination guided their minds. Even Ephram was surprised at his stability, even though the tremors in his hands had become quite a nuisance. But no one seemed to notice….

So far things had proceeded better than they hoped. Lieutenant Commander Teska and his team had done a good job keeping the Zexen mobile suits under control. Also the Radiant had faired well versus the long distance strikes of the Zexen Capital ship. "Commander, 6th incoming missle barrage!" A young ensign indicated. Ephram glanced down to his tactical display. The missle shower was light this time…. he had weathered their storm finally.

"Just keep up the gunnery pattern, see if we can get word to our mobile suits to intercept. That looks like it for their missile capacity." Ephram said in what he hoped was his calm voice.

The enemy's ability to damage his ship had severely dropped now, unless they decided to close the range. His other mobile suit squads would soon join the battle, improving things, but just then the Zexen mobile suit forces pulled back. _Finally they had enough! We made it through. _

"Enemy mobile suits withdrawing sir, Enemy Capship not moving to engage," his Tactical officer said, making it official. Little bursts of triumph sounded throughout the bridge. They still traded sporadic fire but it looked like the Zexen would pull back this time.

---------------------------------------

Thirty minutes had passed since the withdrawal of the Zexen Cruiser and it did not seem to be accelerating towards the Radiant, but only matching their speed and maintaining the distance. Just then another alert shrilled, shocking the crew back to their duty stations.

The XO looked up grimly from the Tactical officer's station. "Sir camera's just picked up a second unidentified capship. We assumed to be Zexen," said Taners. The tactical officer shouted out the location, range, and vectors of the approaching vessel. "We picked it up because of its signal flag."

The dread that had immediately rose in Ephram's chest didn't so much as subside but it was tempered. The Zexen ship was about 5 hours out of engagement range if they keep up a good run and the Zexen ship they just faced didn't look like it would pursue for now. They'd probably regroup for an attack en mass. This gave did give the convoy some time thankfully. His Radiant probably could lose them but the convoy's speed was the determining factor. He'd probably have to shield with the Radiant again. But at least they had time and the convoy was safe for now. And Hermes was close! He had checked the navigational track and even put the image up on the main display. It showed the bright shining sun, an incredibly bright star in the sky but beneath it hung the quarter sized planet of Mercury.

"All we have to do is keep them off of us and the convoy a little longer and we will be at Hermes people."

"We just have to hold on a little bit more….just a little longer."

---------------------------------------

Malakai dismissed his guard as he approached Room TR1. Which had the distinction of being the only highly classified room on the Xenos. Truthfully the highest of the entire 08th task force fleet. Only those with the right clearance had access to this room and fewer still knew what went on behind those doors. Malakai had seen to that. Once Malakai had seen what the room held he knew he would have to keep "them" all to himself. It even irked him to allow the lab techs that maintained the "equipment" to have access to it. _Regrettable, that t I can not take care of you myself. Keep you all to myself,_ Malakai thought, with perverse bitterness. Bitterness more because of recent events than anything else.

The Federation convoy had escaped their grasp yet again, by the slimmest of margins. Malakai slammed his fist into the hardened bulkhead. Subconsciously relishing the pain, a physical manifestation of his mental frustration. He hadn't counted on them throwing every Mobile suit into a mass offensive to buy their ragtag fleet a chance to escape. Hadn't counted on them to put up much resistance at all. Templars' like Malakai couldn't even begin to admit that mundane humans could stop solders of their stature, but it had happened. He allowed himself to a grim smile when he realized what it cost the Feddies. The convoy ships had gained a large lead on his fleet but the 08th Taskforce was still on their trail, still in pursuit. And they had calculated where the Federation convoy was going now. Malakai's officers felt confident they could intercept them. _But none of it would have been necessary if not for Hemphlage and his damned bungling, _Malakai fumed. Oh had Hemphlage felt his wrath and disappointment! Hemphlage would feel it even more when they returned to Zexen space. Thoughts of home made Malakai even more frustrated when he realized how long this mission had lasted.

This frustrating and time consuming chase had brought them all the way out to Mercury. _Mercury!_ But they had at least found their prey at every turn. _All thanks to my angels…,mine…_

When the Special Security Division was first created many doubted the usefulness of assigning such bloodhound units on long-range extra-Earth system patrols. It seemed more a job for the Independent Ops division, and some even called it futile or a waste. But the rest of the Zexen military couldn't know what the SS had in its possession. One of their most top-secret developments. The creation of what Malakai called his "Angels."

The R&D techs referred to them as the Scryers or Mediums. Almost as a grudging joke, considering the apparently supernatural things that they could do.

Malakai opened the door to the room with his retinal scan and was bathed with the faint blue light that filled the "scrying chamber." There "they" floated before Malakai, suspended from the outside world in the deprivation tanks that made it possible for the system to work. Three Angels that had descended from heaven but where frozen in moment of "perfection" Malakai thought. He was a little giddy from the rooms effect on his Newtype senses. And the serenity of the divine faces that floated before him. Malakai pressed a hand to the first deprivation tank with equal parts awe and sick perversion.

Where old fashioned technology was humbled by the sheer volume of space in the Solar System, the Zexen, they had found a way.

"It doesn't matter where they think they could run. There is no where they could hide…. we can find them couldn't we my Angels."

-------------------------------------------------

What a trip. Ok so this is taking as long as it takes but I got this one done. At least the next two chapters are at least partially written. Quite a chore this was. Did a bit of judicious rewriting and rewording.

I need to figure out a way to cut down on the length of these suckers. Even though they do start small the balloon is in effect. Ok things are going to get started soon. The main storyline is ready to begin. All of this early stuff has just been me setting the stage and introducing the hoard of characters that are a part of this story. And I am not done yet. (). I'll put up some notes and such soon to help everyone sort it out. I need to work on some sketches for my military hardware too. Not to mention the characters.

I fear that the next update may take a little longer than "normal." I might be ready to kick start like two other fictions, as crazy as that sounds. Not to mention perhaps rewriting Star Wars:ASG. Keep you posted.


	5. Episode 3

**Cast of Characters **

**Mercury Base**  
Transer Pilot - Will Baker  
Transer Captain - Remers Cole  
Student/Mechanic - Reika M. Mishima  
Chief Mechanic - Ray Heinburg  
Lieutenant/Test Pilot - Jehan Lasus  
Doctor/Project Lead - Anastasia M. Mishima  
Doctor/Project Lead - Heleon Tomas

* * *

_**Episode 3: Tests and Trivialities**_

* * *

"_For too long the Zexen's developments have given them a powerful and unexpected advantage in this conflict. But they understand the future of warfare! We can not solely focus on improving the Machine, we too must seek a total approach. We must improve the Man as well! The unification of the two, the Integration of Man & Machine, that bonding… That is the key to the next generation of Weapons technology. And that is what I hope to accomplish with this Project my esteemed associates."_ - Director of the Icarus Project, speech before the Federation Appropriation Board. 

**---**

Today was the day!

And Jehan Lasus was surely a miniature sun.

Jehan was giddy and high. He could swear his body felt feather light, even as he walked the hall of the exercise rotunda. His feet were practically springing with each new step. Sure his feet actually would be lighter when he returned to the regular low gravity area of the station but this lightness was due to his exhilaration. Jehan was so excited about the prospects of the new day he was practically vibrating. Be glanced at his chronometer. 6:00A.M. (EA), Earth Relative, October 10th, UC 0164, and nodded to himself. Finally the day had arrived when he would get to pilot the new Mobile Suit.

Jehan knew it would be exquisite to feel true acceleration acting on him again! That magnificent press of weight as he made his Mobile Suit dance through space. It was the simple things like that he missed the most.

Jehan, like the other test pilots brought to the base, had become familiar with the basic operations and parameters of Mobile Suits while on the long trip to Mercury. But they all knew that the simulation data was basic at best. Jehan suspected this project went far deeper than testing out a new generation high performance suits for the Military. And his suspicions were proven well founded when he received the actual detailed data upon arrival at the base.

_This project has high goals indeed,_ he thought with a giddy smile. Jehan had spent most of the last 4 days just going over the manuals and proposals they let him have access to. The rest of the time he spent chatting with, or rather bugging, the researcher Dr. Mishima. It helped that she was rather attractive too, he thought, smiling as he again increased his speed of running. They'd been working together rather closely because of his "gifts". Jehan being one of two New Type pilots assigned to the base. Which showed how much the Federation needed this project to pay off. Newtype resources were very valuable, especially in a war like this one. If they could spare such resources then this was definitely a high priority job.

Flirting with the good Doctor Mishima had been about the only fun he'd had in months. Hanging with too many stuff shirts was beginning to depress him. The Doctor was feisty and at least gave as good as she took. She was a lot older than him but that never stopped him before. Jehan shook his head realizing that he might be overcome with a little school boy giddiness because of her as well. He wanted to show off and perform like a gushy little kid.

Well he'd finally get a chance to, as he would be the first to pilot the new Mobile Suit.

**-----------------------**

The concealed testing facilities of the Hermes Research base had been active 24 hours a day, for the last week.

Preparations for the beginning of the Icarus Project had begun in earnest. This process alone involved an immense amount of work. Many man-hours were sunk into the assembly of the Mobile Suits alone.

The Hermes Research Base had increased their patrols in an attempt to lock up near-base security. The outer sensor net had to be set up for the Mobile Suit trials. Tracking on most near-base objects was initiated and old data was updated. The Base's pilots needed to be briefed in procedures. The list went on and on.

The test-pilots themselves had to get up to speed on the base's operations and layout.

Now though it was time. The early trials could now begin, and would this very day.

People moved about the research base with an excitement in their eyes and a spring in their step. There was a feeling of energy in the atmosphere of the research facility. Even among the inhabitants that did not have clearance for the more basic details of the project knew what was taking place today. This was what everyone lived for after all, something new and exciting at a base cut off from the outside solar system. Boredom was a large problem for many far flung outposts. Even though quite a few smaller projects were active it finally felt like the Hermes Research base was living up to its name. It had been a long time since a high profile project had been active at this base. After such a long dry spell, there was no way to keep the populace of the base from being excited.

**-----------------------**

There on the main launch pad of the Hermes testing bay stood the object of every ones excitement.

The once slumbering giants were standing as sentinels. Casting their solemn presences over the bay. The large beings, even inert, looked dangerous, wild, as if daring anyone to try to ride them.

And Jehan would be the first to try to tame one.

With a small bow of respect, Jehan greeted the fine Mobile Suit he was to mount this day. He had seen documents detailing the Mobile Suit, but to see it fully assembled in front of him was a bit more awe inspiring than he figured. Well Jehan hoped the thing was as tough as it looked sleek, he didn't intend to be easy on the Mobile Suit at all.

The Mobile Suit designated for early testing was the IPG-16D Daedalus Gundam. It was the first fully functional prototype of the series to be produced and actually be battle ready. Jehan had been a test pilot before and had an idea of what "battle ready" meant. Most Mobile Suits at this stage of development could dance, for sure, but he didn't know if they could be called fighters. Most test bed units like these got saturated with multiple new developments and ideas that several different research think-tanks wanted to see tested. Sometimes there was tech involved that was in no way related to the original purpose of the vehicle. Jehan guessed that the labheads thought since they were building a new suit anyway, they might as well add in some other projects as well. That way the Federation could get their new suits and the labheads could see if their new and pricey Automaton Smart Select Evaluation System actually worked out in the field, or some such foolishness. The problem was sometimes a lot of these new developments didn't pan out to well, and could even cripple the Suit mass-production wise, because of unforeseen complications and unsuccessful ideas.

This Mobile Suit he was to pilot, the Daedalus, was just as busy test wise. From what he had read and simulated there would be a lot of different developments to be tested. The first and foremost goal of the project was to recreate the technological advances that the Zexen had come up with in the current war. A lot of that had to do with the Pilot, but just as much had to do with the Mobile Suit. He could tell too that there was new work going on with the frame construction. His reading had given him a small glimpse, as much as his non-labhead mind could figure out, into the differences in wiring and control mechanics that went into producing this Suit. The four wing-like binders on the back of the Suit hinted at a new type of vernier and propulsion system. Jehan, of course, was here to test out a lot of the new Newtype specific enhancements. And Jehan had a feeling there were a few more things to test he didn't know about.

The Daedalus was a bit taller than the standard Mobile Suits of this generation. Leaner as well, except for the legs which housed extra propulsions skirts and the shoulders. Odd articulate arms jutted out from the shoulders but seemed to be able to fold and retract back onto the frame. Which they happened to do so as he watched. Jehan guess they weren't to be a part of today's testing. The four long wing-like binders on the back were currently extended in an X pattern. From what he remembered they had a very flexible range of movement and folded back in when the suit was not in use. The Daedalus was painted mostly white, with only light touches of the Gundam's famous color scheme. It looked somewhat like the armored skeletal remains of an ancient celestial warrior, the wings on the back only enhanced this effect.

The other Gundam was more severe looking than even the Dadaelus with odder wing assemblies on its back. But he hadn't really paid much attention to it as it was still in a state of assembly. The torso was suspended from its maintenance dock, the lower portion of the suit still lay on its original flat bed.

"We're ready for you sir," said one of the Technicians. The boy's expression seemed to shift from wary fear of Jehan to straight out jealousy but Jehan only shook his head in bemusement. He then and jumped off from the ground sailing straight to the chest level cockpit of the Mobile Suit. Jehan clicked the release and the cockpit hatch opened quite quickly. He shivered in delight as he entered the cockpit and couldn't keep a wide, probably annoying grin, from his face as he entered.

"Well my dear I hope you are ready to dance today."

**-----------------------**

"Hmmm well the cockpit is a tad different than I expected." Jehan Lasus said, as he absentmindedly went about getting situated in the Daedalus cockpit. "Doctor Mishima you failed to mention that." Jehan thought aloud as he now re-familiarized himself with the layout. He began to sit in the linear seat but the panoramic monitor was still dark even though the Mobile Suit was brought up to full operational status hours ago. Upon sitting in the seat the panoramic screen activated, filling the cockpit with intense and beautiful light. The flash was soon replaced with the view of the Hermes Base's test bay. Jehan nodded his appreciation.

"Hmm a large part of this automated I see." Jehan said as he locked into the seat. "Explains why they went skimpy on the control panel." He joked, though it was true that the control panel was very Spartan. It was very ergonomically designed but lacked some of the displays of the regular Mobile Suit cockpits. Though if the project was going to go where he thought it was then a regular panel was not needed. Jehan ran through the checks and it was almost 100 percent.

"Lieutenant Lasus, do you read me?" a smoother voice said over the open communication line. It was of course the good Doctor Mishima's. Jehan found it very sultry, _something about her and that French descended twine_.

He laughed at his schoolboy giddiness once again. "Yes good doctor. And I must say it is quite lovely to hear your melodic voice so early in the morning." Jehan pressed a few buttons and her sharp features and light blonde hair appeared before him on the panoramic display.

"Please Lieutenant… let us at least try to make a pretense of being of Professionals," she said, though Jehan thought he could detect a little bit of mirth under her stiff demeanor.

"I promise nothing MM." he smiled upon hearing her exaggerated sigh over the comm. channel.

"At least make yourself useful then pilot. If you could activate those banks of controls to your right, C-9, communication systems. I need you to turn on the feed from there."

"What would that be." Jehan asked as he looked for the right button.

"Federation tax dollars at work, and the result of our increase focus on optics, beams, and imagery since 0079." She said absentmindedly.

"Huh." Jehan said as he obeyed and was pleasantly surprised and more than a little startled when sheets of light jumped into being a meter in front him. There the light beams congealed into the image of a three dimensional holographic display of the Daedalus Gundam. Jehan looked at the amused face of Dr. Mishima and belatedly realized that he had risen out of his seat. "Impressive."

"Indeed. Purely holographic displays have been around for a bit now, mostly on capital ships only, this one is of a newer variety. We finally were able to miniaturize it enough to make it applicable to a Mobile Suit cockpit. Though I doubt it will see wide spread use. The properties of the Zexen DNI system make it rather moot to waste the money on light beam projection for display purposes. Well at least we know it works."

"I see." Jehan said. Dr. Mishima ran him through another thirty minutes of introductions to other such functions and nuances of the controls.

"Yes, well it seems all systems are ready on our end," she finally said, and Jehan let out a sigh of relief. A_t last. _Just then another voice came across the comm. link.

"This is Controller Beta Two calling Alpha One. Lieutenant Lasus. We are ready to begin trial Testing. All recording is ready."

"This is Lieutenant Lasus, I copy that!!"

The Gundam took its first tentative steps. Easily and gracefully. Jehan was already impressed. _Just like the sims._

A crowd of onlookers, fully masked in their normal suits, cheered him on. _Strange to be receiving praise, _He thought, _Though I wonder if they would still cheer if most of them knew what I was._

The Bay doors where opening now and Jehan could see the incredible beauty of space. "Finally, it's been too long my friend."

"Pardon, Lieutenant?." he heard Controller Beta Two say.

"It's nothing. This is Lieutenant Lasus I am starting her moving now, watch your heads."

The doors of the Hermes testing bay were now open. Jehan disengaged his mags that keep the suit attached to the floor. He uses a slight amount of thrust to carry the Dadaelus free and clear of the Bay. Then let out a laugh of contentment and shot the suit off at a Full, chest squeezing, Burn. The Daedalus shot of out of the Bay at its highest acceleration possible. Already voices were yelling at Jehan from Control, but he didn't really listen to them, he was in bliss.

"Lets have some fun shall we Control!!"

**-----------------------**

"He's too cocky," responded one of the annoyed lab assistants in the bay's control room. They didn't intend to take the Mobile Suit up to red zone until much later. Jehan Lasus's disregard for procedure was already

"Not like we have much choice, we just have to put up with him," said Dr. Tomas, the project lead was smiling as he looked out of the control room to the bay below. "Right Miss Mishima."

"Hmmmp If we must," she said, though he noticed the Doctor had an almost disguised smile. It didn't look like something she was used too.

"Alright lets begin shall we, the pilot has the right idea. Enough stalling lets begin the tests!"

"Copy that sir." The scientists and researchers at once busted into motion.

**-----------------------**

"So Reika what do you think of it?"

"It's beautiful Will." Reika said from here perch overlooking the Hangar. "Even from here." Will Baker was beside her. They were both prone on a small observation ledge overlooking the testing bay. They both were in their normal suits as the bay had been ventilated for launch. Below small figures swarmed over the Mobiles Suits of the Icarus Project, and it caused Reika to feel sympathetic joy. Like when a person sees someone else getting a massage and remembers how good it feels. Mobile Suits, particularly being able working on them gave her a strange pleasure. She didn't think it that odd, though some did say it was odd for a child to be interesting in such things. But she figured that some people liked movies, or sports, or gambling, or sex. She liked mechanical things. In particular certain bipedal war machines called Mobile Suits.

Reika had definitely wanted to get a look at the new suits and she was about to try using her own methods to gain entrance. But surprisingly Will had managed to get in himself, with some sort of clearance password. Though why he would be interested in the Mobile Suits was a little curious. Will usually wasn't interested in Mobile weapons. Though she guessed that even he wanted to see this.

Another thing that bothered her initially was Will's clearance codes. Last she knew he was just a delivery boy… Why he had access to this part of the base had flared up her curiosity. She guessed he had connections like hers, but all these concerns where long forgotten though when she actually entered the bay. To actually see the new Gundams had made her forget all her worries.

As she watched, one of the Gundam's lifted off and then flew out of the testing bay. She watched with childlike fascination.

**-----------------------**

Like a bullet the Dadaelus sped out of the concealed reasearch bay, it's boosters on full It dashed to and fro like a hornet. Jehan put the suit through a number of twists and turns. Jehan had to admit that he was impressed with its overall acceleration and vernier of the suit so far. In the cockpit of the Daedalus the stars spun around in a wild light show. He executed a stop to cancel the turn and Hermes Research Base framed the forward view, the form of Mercury obscured by the large rock.

"Pilot!" came the sultry voice of the Doctor Mishima. Followed by her appearance on one of the display screens. She seemed rather calm, which saddened Jehan a little, he was hoping fluster the researchers, a little. "It would have been wise to wait for clearance before running the suit up to its Maximum thrust. There are things we need to be able to record and mechanical considerations to take into account."

"Chill milady. We can do all the boring stuff later." He said keying in a few switches. "I haven't piloted anything in months. Thought I was going insane."

He kicked the Daedalus to thrust once more. Vectoring towards the Hermes base, flying past the observation outpost.

He put the Gundam through a few more high speed corkscrews "Not bad at all. I like what you guys have here." He grunted as he went through a continuous Split S maneuver, G-forces grabbing at him from all angles, which he found quite pleasurable. "Hmm nice stability, and good output. Great agility, obviously resulting from the binders on the back."

"Do you intend to destroy your new tow on its first try." A slightly amused Doctor Mishima said.

"Merely getting a feel for it." Jehan said. "It's a world of difference than in the simulations. I'm rather curious as to its limits."

"I'm sure you are familiar with the story behind this projects namesake," she said with a raised eyebrow, "Push too hard or your wings are liable to melt off."

"Ah but do not forget Milady. That was Icarus, this is the Daedelus."

"Humph. Here you go Pilot. Here is the itinerary for today if you have gotten the bugs out of your system."

The data streamed in and Jehan smiled looking over today's testing goals and let out a little sigh. _Time to get to it I guess. _

"Ok let's see what else she can do."

**-----------------------**

"Well at least he's enthusiastic about his job sir," said one of the technicians admiring the Daedalus as it ran through its maneuvers. All the researchers had been at their stations doing readings and testing for many hours. Comparing actual readouts versus the simulated. Checking stress and strain on the suit and the function and efficiency of its systems. A hefty days worth of work was already done and without to many breaks. But the pilot was still eager to keep going, and he had been like this since they started tests four days ago. No one, on the first day, had accounted for this. No one expected this from the supposedly brash and reckless test pilot Alpha One.

"Seems like we got a good candidate after all, eh Doctor?" another scientist said, looking to the Chief researcher on the project, Dr. Tomas, and the second, Dr. Mishima.

The two head of the project were a mixture of emotions. Doctor Tomas seemed to waver between joy seeing his Mobile Suit in use, to jealousy at the thought of anyone touching his Mobile Suit but him. Let alone seeing a Newtype put the Daedalus through its paces. Something he'd rather do himself but wasn't physically able.

The other Doctor Mishima was poring over the biometric readings from the Mobile Suit's pilot. These days she exhibited an odd sense of mirth at the progress and accomplishments of the pilot, which mixed with concern every time he pulled a high stress maneuver or passed a difficult test. "Interesting….."

"Ms. Mishima?"

Dr. Mishima looked up from her data smiling wistfully despite the jab at her, "I was just thinking what a shame it was that we aren't ready to run the new computer. He definitely has what it takes to push the program to it's limits. And the strength of his special abilites is better than I expected."

Dr. Tomas shrugged, now pouting. "Performance aside, his showboating is dangerous and annoying. But perhaps his grandstanding can play to our advantage…"

"And that would be." Asked the third top researcher, Doctor Weiss Haltenkaph. He was a man with skeletal features and exuded an air of eeriness. Even more so than Dr. Tomas. Mishima thought him the picturesque avatar of some sort of mad surgeon.

"We may be able to move up our schedule on other parts of the project," Dr. Mishima said, anticipating were Dr. Tomas was going. "I assumed it would take a while before the pilots were used to the Suits operations. Even for the new types but Mr. Lasus was quite a boon."

"He has taken to it like a fish in water." One of the technicians interjected, while observing a rainbow stream of data.

"Yes, Your boy there may allow us to proceed with the testing in your field Ms. Mishima much earlier."

"And the others as well I guess," Dr. Haltenkaph said, "Even though it is a shame we won't have the medical capabilities to mimic the Zexen hot interface for some time." The gaunt faced Doctor seemed dejected. "What was it? Last I heard another four weeks until the arrival of our proper medical equipment."

"Don't worry you'll get your chance to play Dr. Frankenstein," Dr. Tomas giggled, which did not look natural on the man. And though the Doctor expected an adverse reaction from Haltenkaph, he also wasn't surprised by the other man's cold smile either. Dr. Haltenkaph seemed to appreciate the reference.

"Well, we do have most of my equipment and I'd like to test the Artificial as soon as possible as well." Dr. Mishima chimed in as well. "Hopefully we can find out if she as at least as stable as the Directors said she was."

"Indeed. That would be wise." Said Tomas, "I heard things Earthside before my arrival. The Zexen have High command seeing demons in the night. As such they are considering mass production of those dreadful things just to keep pace."

"I for one don't trust them, they are even less controllable than the Naturals. Less efficient on a per unit basis as well." a revolted Haltenkaph added. "Nature is so vulgar that way."

"Which is why we are tasked to do what is necessary here." Tomas reminded him. "With our help they can gain parity in the war again, with out relying on a 'special kind' of pilot."

"With Jehan here, it should make things easy." Dr Mishima interjected, " Though if he will survive the process is another matter." She added somberly. "We don't have enough empirical data on the affects of the interface technology on the New Type mind. Far to less for my tastes."

"Why miss Mishima, I hope that you are not getting attacked to our little mouse are you?"

Anger flashed on Mishima's face but quickly dissipated. She would not fall for his bating. "Your little experiments on these subjects may help you, but it definitely would not help me if Jehan is shut down by the process."

"Your worries are insignificant," Tomas deflected, "I have it on good authority that the Zexen's precious super soldiers keep their Newtype abilities after implantation. "

"But do we know how to do the process as they do?"

"Trust me Dr. Mishima. The process has been tested sufficiently. Why do you think I'm here," Haltenkaph laughed wickedly and Dr. Mishima repressed a shudder of revulsion.

"But Mr. Frankenstein, I have to concede a point to Miss Mishima's worries, what we intend may be a bit different than how their system works. But let us stop here. "He said holding up a hand to slow Haltenkaph's response. "We all seem to be a bit giddy today. All wanting to see our plans come to fruition. We have months and miles to go yet."

"I agree. We get ahead of ourselves. I guess Mr. Lasus has infected us with his activities as of latey. " Mishima keyed the comm. system. "Mr. Lasus. I believe that will be enough drills for today. Prepare to bring the Daedalus in."

"Ahh well I guess I could turn in for the night hun .. Be in in a second."

**-----------------------**

The smell of greasy foods and black drinks pervading the air. The severe overlapping of conversations collecting into a haze of sound. The bustling of bodies to and fro, creating traffic jams as the bodies collided together. This was the main mess hall of the Hermes and this was Lunch 3, right after the shift change. One of the busiest of the day. Reika stood, looking over the bustling mass for….

"Ray!!," Reika yelled over the general clamor of the Lunch Room crowd. She stood waving her little arms back and forth to catch his attention.

The older man smiled as he picked her out of the crowd and walked over to her table. _Reika managed to hold down a table all by herself despite the Lunch hour congestion_. Though Ray did notice one other person sitting with her. A young man with brown hair slicked back away from his face. Ray thought he looked a bit shady but Reika seemed to be enjoying his company immensely. She still stood waiting for him and flashing that winning smile in greeting.

"Hello Reika." He said, finally walking over to the other side of the table facing Reika.

Reika nodded a greeting back to him. Then she turned to the other man and Ray could swear she blushed a little. "Ray meet um… this is Will Baker," She said finally, introducing the older man to the slick looking man to her left. Ray nodded in greeting as he sat down opposite them.

"Nice to meet you sir," the young man said.

"Sir? No one calls a spacedog like me sir," Will said in jest. "Just call me Will."

"Umm…. Will this is Ray." Reika said blushing again.

"Pleasure." The two men shook hands. Reika beeming at the event.

'This is great." Reika said smiling wildly. "I finally I have a chance to sit with the only two friends I have within billions of miles. My only two friends really."

Will raised an eyebrow in thought. "So you are the one she's been telling me about." He rubbed a hand over his slicked back hair idly. "This is good, I worry about this kid when I'm away, glad to see she has someone looking out for her."

"Wow. To tell you the truth umm… Will? I actually didn't know she considered me such a friend." Ray said blushing slightly. "Thank you Reika." Then it was Mishima's time to blush again.

"Typical of Miss Mishima here," Will said shaking his head. "I just thought she liked bothering me and causing trouble when I first met her." He saw Reika scrutinizing him and placated her with a shrug. "Reika your pretty odd kid."

"And you aren't yourself," She said frowning at him, though not too seriously. "Sorry I guess I dunno… I figured you guys would just know. You know?"

"We can't read your mind kid, you think I'm a Newtype?" Will said laughing aloud. Though Ray tensed a little bit at the word. And Will noticed that a few bystanders took interest in the conversation briefly. He shrugged again. Will had not figured things were so bad in the Federation and that the news had traveled this far out. The Zexen had them more on edge than he would have allowed. "Sorry,"

"Yeah well with things as they are. People are understandably anxious with the mention of Newtypes," Ray mentioned.

"I don't see the problem. So a few New Types are on their side. Doesn't mean they all are," Reika exclaimed.

"Sorry kid I have to agree with Ray." Will said clapping his hands together and then knocking his fingers of as he ticked off points. "More than a substantial number of Newtypes turn up in Zexen Militaire one day. Then they start some sort of fanatical war with the Federation. And now may have a chance at winning. Not to mention all the horror stories I have heard. Hell I am not surprised folks are gonna to get jumpy, and filled with a need to blame something." Reika just shrugged.

Will cringed a bit as he tasted his soup. "What is this stuff?"

"Yeah the soups a little bland today, but at least the sandwich is decent. This new soymeat a bit better tasting than that last batch," exclaimed Reika as she bit into it.

"So you say," Will said taking a hesitant bite out of it. "So" he said with his mouth still full. "You say Ray is your friend here."

"Yes. He's great," She said smiling at Ray. "He's been teaching me all about Mobile Suits, how to maintenance them, and the theory behind their basic function."

"That so,"

"Yeah. Its pretty interesting stuff!" she said smiling with contentment. "You know how I get the fuzzies from machinery. I mean I have piloted one before but to see how they work is almost more satisfying! Ray's made it so easy.."

"Well I wouldn't say that my teaching skills are any good, its more Reika. She is rare 'perfect student.' She kid devoirs knowledge and is almost intuitively aware of how things work."

"Feth me kid. I'm impressed," Will said patting Reika on the head. He dodged her predictable swat and flashed her a raised brow. "I am. Hell even I don't know how to pilot an MS."

"Well…" she hesitated, "My old… um 'friend' used to pilot them recreationally. He sort of taught me how among other things. It was just before I came here actually."

"No offense kid. But you have strange choice in friends." Will said taking another big bite out of his soymeat sandwich. "No offense Ray."

"No problem." Ray smiled back.

"Why no one younger? More your age kid?" Will asked her.

"Well most of the children here are pretty young. And there are only a few my age, but they don't like me." Ray and Will, looked at each other as Reika looked down into her meal. A little hurt and loneliness was evident in her voice. "I'm weird to them I guess. And I have different interests than them…" She looked up her face a little hard. "And they're too mundane for me."

"I see," Will said surprised by her admission, not really understanding what she meant by mundane. "but Reika this older man thing you got going is kinda distressing." He said with humor patting her on the head again. Which caused her to slap in the arm. Which he allowed her to do. She seemed a little better because of it and he smiled; as that was what he was hoping would happen. "What about your mom how's she doing?"

"I don't know." Reika said. "I'd rather not talk about her." Ray did a slight shake of his head. Will just shrugged.

"So Reika, what did you want to tell me about? In that message.." Ray said intending to change the subject.

"Feth yeah! I almost forgot." She said suitably distracted. "Ray we got a chance to see the new MS."

Ray slyly observed how Will seemed to shrink back from the admission. "What! Who's we?"

"Me and Will here. He managed to get us clearance. And we saw them."

Ray cast another look at Will, though he didn't seem to catch it, or care to. "Even I didn't get clearance yet."

Will just raised his hands deflecting the veiled question. Then shushed the young girl, "Hey Reika lest not tell the whole world here..."

"Heh sorry," she beamed. "They were beautiful Suits. Two of them. We weren't that close but I got a good look at them. I have to see more. You know I love this kind of stuff."

"That she does." Ray said.

"Well I just have to see them again. But this time up close!"

"Hey even I can't manage that kid." Will said, rubbing a hand over his slick backed hair. He didn't look too enthusiastic about her admission.

"I have my ways Will."

"I don't know if that's wise Kid. You get caught they're going to ask a lot of questions," said Will, though he could tell from his look that Ray had more than a few questions of his own.

"Trust me it will be ok. I'm not a spy or anything." Reika said and Ray noticed Will's discomfort.

"Reika I don't think that's wise. Mother working on the project or not," Ray said. "I don't think they would cut you too much slack."

"Guys come on…." Reika said but stopped mid sentence. An odd look in her eye, she turned as if listening to something.. She absentmindedly rubbed her head. Just then though she noticed an odd whispering in the back ground running around the cafeteria. She looked up and there he was again, the gold haired pilot from before. Though this time he was flanked by two Guards with guns.

------------------------

Everyone in the cafeteria quieted. Some had a look of anxiety or fear on their faces. And some had open hostility on their faces. Word had obviously spread. The pilot of the new Daedalus Mobile Suit was a Newtype.

Jehan Lasus moved towards the Cafeteria Line with purposeful steps. The Two guards were a bit uneasy following him in. There were plenty of disgruntled faces Reika saw. Even more so now that it was evident the pilot seemed bold enough to eat with them. Not everyone was casting the Gold haired pilot vicious stares. More were just wary. A few were even fighting their fear.

The pilot approached the line. And put his tray on the cafeteria rails. "I wouldn't mind one of those Soymeat sandwiches." He said in a mirthful voice, though it had a certain depth to it. The lunch clerk hesitated and said nothing. Her face showed she knew how many glares were directed at her from around the room. The poor girl looked like she didn't know what to do.

"Hey you freak. Why don't you just take your Zex ass out of here!" some voice said. Then a metal plate flew at the Newtype pilot from behind flying through the air like a frisbee. Ray visibly flinched knowing what might happen, though Will and Reika couldn't take their eyes away. The Newtype pilot though, simply side stepped the plate and it went smashing into the lunch counter. "As you can plainly see." The Pilot said raising his voice. "I'm in the Federal Forces."

"Oh yeah then why are your kind always massacring the Earth and dropping colonies." A voice answered. Followed by a chorus of agreements.

Jehan just shook his head in disappointment. "If anyone has a problem with me then lets deal with it here and now." He said calmly though his open invitation was obvious.

"Feth, don't provoke them," Will muttered under his breathe. Will saw that the situation was getting progressively out of control. It was too late now.

A group angry Soldiers had rose up out of the mass of onlookers. The crowd gathered around the four men circling the young Newtype and the two MPs that were escorting him were effectively neutered by the large crowd. The Newtype pilot just stood there, an eye in the storm, almost insanely calm. This seemed to provoke the aggressors even more. A few spit violent obscenities as the rest of the crowd just roared or cheered.

"Will we have to do something!" Reika said, angrily rising out of her seat. As she moved towards the crowd a strong hand gripped her wrist. She looked at Will's hand and then at Will as he gave her an almost over exaggerated headshake. She was about to break his grip and rush in anyway.

But oddly as she looked up her eyes locked with that of the Newtype pilot. Those same haunting eyes from the landing bay. She sat down, suddenly feeling the need to. She felt unwell. As if the madness in the cafeteria and her inability to help was weighing her down.

That's when it began.

Simultaneously two soldiers charged Jehan from behind intent on rushing into his back from behind. The Newtype just casually side stepped the attack. The two soldiers' momentum carrying them violently into the crowd. The Newtype didn't pause though, as he went about ducking and then parrying attacks from another soldier wielding a chair. His skill in self-defense was obvious, though there was something else involved. Some of those people attacking him seemed to be trained fighters as well. Marines maybe to Will's eye.

But the Newtype always seemed to be in control, casually deflecting attacks. Though he did receive a few bad blows. Reika had never seen anything like it How he could multi-task were his opponents where. Almost as he had advanced warning and reaction. She originally thought that Newtypes were just really good pilots of Mobile Suits, only strong in that world, she didn't realize it translated to physical action as well. She'd have to rethink her opinion of them. Obviously the Soldiers didn't know any better either. At first the crowd roared whenever the Newtype pilot effectively subverted their attacks, but now the crowd was deadly silent. In awe of his abilities and many were now wearing masks of fear. The Newtype pilot had disabled three men as though it was easy. Yet it was evident his exertions had taken a lot out of him.

The frustrated soldier with the chair had obviously had enough of being made a fool of. As the Newtype pilot's back was turned dealing with the last of his attackers, the soldier angrily drew a long bladed knife strapped to his lower leg. "You'll see Zex bastard. We'll win this war," He said incoherently "At any cost!." The soldier grabbed it by its tip and flung the blade end over end at the Newtype. Much to shock of the crowd. The Newtype pilot barely managed to deflect the blade with the knuckles of his hand, blocking it to the ground. The yellow haired pilot struck like a cat, scything the soldier's legs, blood pooring from his wounds. Jehan reached for the knife; swing it in an exaggerated arc towards the Soldiers head... Reika flinched at what was to come, yet Will looked on in grim determination.

The blade stopped a mere centimeter from the soldiers face. "I told you," He yelled to everyone, slamming the blade into the tile floor by the soldiers face. "I'm in the Federal Forces."

"What the hell is going on here!" I loud voice said intruding upon the crowd shocked noises. It was an Military Police Sergeant flanked by two more MPs. " Well I'll be…." He said looking at the Newtype pilot arced over the fallen soldier with the knife grip still in his hand. " I knew your kind was going to be trouble as soon as I heard you were on station."

He flicked a thumb at the tipsy soldiers involved in the brawl then at the Pilot. "Alright round these worthless dogs up and brig them." He said with disgust. "As for our golden boy here, put him in his quarters until further notice."

""Hey he didn't start it!" Reika said to Will, her disgust at the whole even evident in her voice. "They started it you big buffoon!" She yelled at the MP Sergeant. Will and Ray both flinched, holding her down.

The Sergeant barely acknowledged her, "Someone get that kid out of here 'fore I throw her in the brig too! My patience is too short for this shit. And you two!" he said scowling at the two MPs designated to guard the Newtype. They both looked ill as his gaze swept upon them. "How the hell did you let this escalate?!! You know how valuable he is to this base! Feth…" he said waving his arms at everyone. "I should throw the whole lot of you in the brig!!"

"That's our queue," Ray said picking the girl up and partially dragging her out of the lunchroom. Will quickly followed.

**-----------------------**

It was about an hour after the incident. Will had stayed to see if Reika was ok and that the incident hadn't bothered her too much. Then he departed to his quarters for the night. It seemed he have a lot of work to take care off. Reika noticed Ray watch him leave, a strange look in the older man's eyes. Now it was just the two of them in a small lounge.

"It's decided then," Reika said suddenly.

"What?"

"I have to check out that Suit! Up close and personal…" Ray was definitely unsettled by the determination on her face.

"That could be decidedly dangerous miss Mishima. Especially the idea of you getting in trouble with that Will Baker fellow. Something is not right about him."

"What are you at talking about? Will's fine. He just seems shadowy but really he is a big softy."

"Still don't trust him." Ray said, with a resigned shrug of his shoulders.

"Look don't worry about it. I won't be needing him to get access to the Suit. I have another way."

"But Reika this is crazy. Granted I want to see this Mobile Suit that has caught your attention, but I'm not going to risk getting caught in a High Security Zone. Why do you want to do this so bad?"

"I can't sleep on it now Ray. Did you see that Newtype pilot? That means it has to be a Newtype Suit," she said hitting her knuckles together. "I have to see it! To touch it." Ray was off put by her sudden faraway expression. "Seeing what that Newtype did in there, I just have to 'feel' this up close…"

"I'm not your parent. But I guess I am your friend I just want to say I don't think this is a good idea. God what is wrong with me… but if you're determined I guess it's your responsibility."

"Thank you Ray," Reika said as she flashed him that famous smile of hers.

"Silly girl… What am I to do with you."

**-----------------------**

Reika returned to her living quarters, still a little shaken by the events of the day. And yet below that malaise she was electrified, brimming with latent excitement at what she had chosen to do. She stepped over the foyer and into the apartment proper. The quarters were as spacious and furnished as a Senior Officer's. But decidedly different in that they were crammed with an insane amount of her mother's artifacts. Stacks of real paper books, datacards, mounds of faux-paper research booklets, and scientific instruments littered the living room space. The rest were filled with her mother's bioengineered plants, created to be vibrant and still require a low amount of water and upkeep. Reika's mother was one, Anastasia M. Mishima, a very important researcher on the new Gundam project.

In the past Reika only had a vague idea of what her mother really did… until recently. Reika saw so little of her mother at the best of times, as they kept different schedules, so Reika had taken to reading up on some of her mother's work, learning what she could. The young girl sighed, she told herself it was because she was board and was hungry for a little knowledge, but she knew it was really a desperate attempt to find some connection with her estranged Mother. Incidentally, with the Gundam project in full swing she doubted she would see her mother at all. Which was fine with her, as they didn't really get along when they were together. They were vastly different people. Possessing different temperaments, different interests. They interacted with people differently. They even differed in looks, her mother's old-European beauty versus Reika's, with her parents mix of Japanese and French. Still…. even with all that…. the senior Mishima was her mother. Reika always got so frustrated with those weird genetic types of connections. She still longed for her mother.

Reika picked up a random book, frowning, she bet her mother didn't even bother to conceal what she was doing. Reika doubted that her mother even thought her smart enough to understand these books. The mechanical specs always fascinated her, oddly her mother's more extensive collection on genetics, evolution, and bio-sensors didn't catch her that much. She picked up one report that caught her interest and carried it with her. She sighed heavily, in that sort a span she had went from excited to depressed again…. _Mother._

The Kitchen was clean today. That was odd. Her mother usually left those types of chores to her. She reached into the refrigerator and picked up a Soymilk and some flavored krill slices. She sat on her bed thinking to kill some time until she went to her rendezvous with the Gundam… _my mother's Gundam_. Fatigue hit her that she hadn't realized she was carrying. Before she knew it… she was asleep.

------------------------

Will was a bit weary from the day. A little too much had transpired in his opinion.

Will managed to get some repairs done on the Transport. He got a lot of his paper work done too. He had even braved another debriefing "session" with the Hermes' local spooks, and allowed himself another smile at that triumph. He had even found time to razz his Captain, Remers Cole. But this was just the mundane day to day things. That thought though caused him to laugh, s_ome old farmer in New Hunan would hardly call that mundane…_

What had really made Will so weary was what had transpired today with Reika and what he still had to do. The fight in the cafeteria had taken a lot out of him. Which sometimes happened when he hung out with Reika. The girl was so vibrant, she sometimes made him feel old and tired. What he still had to do though, what he had been putting off till now, is what really made him feel tired.

Will Baker got out his clothes locker and opened a secret compartment in one of his normalsuits. In it were a few ports for electronics. To it he attached his Navi, a small personal computer, he also attacked a small line from his concealed micro cam into another port. He began downloading all the captured pictures he had taken off the Gundam and various other projects at the Base. He powered up the Navi and began filing away his reports, which would instantly be encrypted by the normalsuit's special equipment and stored aboard it.

This was a part of his life even Remers didn't know about. _…Hell Remers doesn't know a lot of things about my past._ It had been a boon to get sent out here from the Federation. Had been a boon to get placed in the Federations stable of secret couriers. His real "handlers" would definitely be interested in any information he could report to them concerning what was going on out here. It was a risk to bring Reika with him earlier in the week when he had taken footage of the Gundams but…she was just a kid right? Besides he doubted that he was at risk. Federation security at these types of facilities was heavy, but just like elsewhere in the Federation, it was still lax in some of the same old ways.

Will was extremely tired of having to maintain his secret life sometimes, but it was worth it. _Someone has to keep and eye on the Federation. And the Zexens too for that matter…._

------------------------

Ray looked up from his work, exhausted, a large object attracting his attention. Up above the mighty bulk of the _Casey_ was coasting out of the Hermes' main launchbay. It seemed that some incidents were causing problems out in the shoals of Mercury, probably some old mining colony housing pirates again.

Ray had been called out of his sleep to help with some last minute repairs and maintenance. He really did not want to be in his normalsuit right now. He was too tired. He hadn't been able to sleep. The lunchroom fight, his worries for Reika, his suspicions of her friend Will, the War and its effect on humans. These things had him wound up too tight, even with the pills it was still hard to sleep. He had just dozed off when he got the emergency call sending him out here. At least when he worked he could forget about some of his worries… Partially…

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Late in the "night" cycle of Hermes Base two figures were alone in the Hermes' testing bay. Its other inhabitants were gone, the personnel involved in the testing had long since knocked off for their rest periods. Only the Daedalus Gundam and its incomplete sister Mobile Suit were their company. They stood under the Daedalus Gundam a wine glass in each hand. A small insignificant light shinning on their little rendezvous. Jehan Lasus beckoned and the beautiful and exotic Anastasia Mishima floated over to him as he sat on the Gundams prostrate hand. In the pale, almost nothing, light Anastasia looked even more ravishing than she normally did. It was a little intoxicating. She sat down right next to him and he couldn't resist it. He leaned over causally and kissed her gently on the mouth. She resisted for slight second then leaned into it herself, and kissed him back stronger. After a while they parted, and Jehan let out a long held sigh of relief and comfort. Anastasia looked at him with her usual seriousness, though a small smile was hiding on her face. _ Even here she doesn't let that much show…_he thought shaking his head.

"Problem?" she said with an arched eyebrow, which excited Jehan even more, rather than causing him worry.

"Nothing… you know you are a remarkable woman…"

"You mean strange," She said, an odd wistfulness finally coming onto her face. Some old pain there, some old memory from the past. Yet oddly, it did not detract from her strength. "I am stranger than any of your other women…"

He shrugged then caressed her not denying the fact he was a womanizer, of sorts. "I'd say you were intriguing. Delightfully different, that is what distances you from the other women I have ever met." She did not seem phased but she shrugged as well.

"You are unusual as well Mr. Lasus. I've never seen a true Newtype like you before. It's a little intoxicating. You are quite above par in the testing, so much so you are pushing us…" she stopped. Shaking her head, she had begun to talk about work again. _Silly Mishima silly…_ she said to herself. Finally a smile, a placating smile, appeared on her face. "Sorry…" she said softly.

Jehan waved her worry away with his hand. He knew she only had that part of her life, work. He understood. Instead of responding with words he held his glass up. "To the success of the Icarus Project. And to you Miss Mishima." They tapped their glasses together eliciting a nice rhythmic clink from the glasses. Jehan leaned in giving Anastasia Mishima an even more passionate kiss.

And Mishima finally allowed herself to relax. She relaxed for the first time in months…_ In Years really, _she finally thought, with a small amount of fearShe hadn't realized she missed such companionship. That she needed it. She felt her worries disappear for a moment. No more project; No more pain in the posterior researchers with colossal egos; no more annoying Federation officers to deal with that kept her from her work. She was able to escape for a moment. It was an amazing feeling. Jehan embraced her passionately and in his ear Mishima whispered.

"Thank you."

-----------------------

A few kilometers away from the Hermes Research Base space debris floated.

This was no normal flotsam though. Embedded within the camouflaged outshell of debris, highly complicated systems were at work. Highly expensive electrical surveillance equipment resided within the debris spy sat. It sat happily going about its stated task. Keeping an eye on and recording data on the Large asteroid base before it. Most of the time it just sat, spending its time recording vid images and recording stray transmissions. The debris spysat spent other time queuing up its large amounts of recorded data, splitting them into smaller packages. It was better to send off smaller clumps of data in encrypted tight beam transmissions. It was a quick, low energy, low emission method; the perfect technique for keeping an eye on something interesting without letting the eye be caught. In this case that something interesting was a deep inner system Federation Base.

Suddenly the main bay of the Research base opened and a Federation Cruiser left the bay. This was of particular interest to the little spysat, a larger priority bit of data. It recorded the data, moving it to the front of its data queue, thanks to its differentiating subroutines. It cast a low level scan in a certain direction and confirmed the location of its other friend. It locked onto the coordinates and fired a tiny beam of energy to its sister spysat a few kilometers away from the base. This was higher priority data and thus as required to be as up to date as detection subroutines allowed the sat to be.

The sister sat caught the data, verified the encryption, saw it was a high priority and instantly looked for its brother farther along then sent off another tight-beam transmission. This baton of data was passed back two more times. The last little spysat sent its data home to its mother.

A good many kilometers from the Hermes Research base, concealed under a tarp of floating wreckage was a large double scalene, a long diamond shaped vessel. The vessel was black, the kind that lent well to blending in with the vast space behind it. A keen observer would able to identify it as a Zexen vessel.

It received the data from its children and relayed the data, primarily visual footage, to the station of a Zexen communications officer. He smiled at the information flowing into his station and began decrypting it.

Shadowed enemy eyes were upon Hermes.


End file.
